Journey to the West
by Zephyros-Phoenix
Summary: COMPLETE - Sunset Shimmer returns to the life in Equestria she ran away from. But her welcome back party is cut short by Princess Celestia's latest assignment: travel to Wu Xing and help their princesses locate their missing father, King Gold, or else the Shadowlands will overwhelm them! As they try to help, Sunset feels an odd connection to this foreign land.
1. Return to Equestria

**I can't believe I'm about to do this. I remember when I first made these characters up that I made the firm decision to not write a mlp story... and yet, here I am. How weak am I? Such a slave to my brain. Curse it and all the coming up with ideas it does!**

 **Well, on another note, this is just a fun little story about my OC ponies, the Elemental Princesses of a land called Wu Xing, which neighbors Equestria to the west. Plus, this story is a bit based on my desire to see Sunset Shimmer return to Equestria. Not that I want her to leave the human world, but Equestria was the life she ran away from and going back to it would be a big step for her character. Plus, they're bound to run into the human world Sunset by movie 4. All my OC ponies have already been drawn, so hop on over to my deviantart page to take a look because I don't give two shits about writing a paragraph describing everyone's appearance when I can just draw a picture.**

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"Are you sure about this, Sunset?" Applejack asked as the seven girls gathered around the portal to Equestria.

She nodded, "I am. When I first came here, I was just running away from my problems and following a dark path. But you guys helped me find a new, better path. I'll always love and care about you guys, but Equestria will always be my home and I think it's time for me to go back and stop running."

"We understand, Sunset," Fluttershy whispered.

"We're going to miss you a great deal, darling!" Rarity exclaimed as the girls gathered around to hug her.

"You better come back and visit!" Rainbow Dash declared, giving her a light noogie on her head.

"And bring lots of presents!" Pinkie Pie added.

Sunset laughed and embraced her friends, "I will, I promise. And Twilight," she said, moving over to the bespeckled girl. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"I will. Thank you for everything, Sunset," Twilight said, hugging her tightly.

Sunset smiled as she pulled away and moved to the portal. She placed her hand on the cool stone as she stepped into the portal. She turned back and looked at her friends as they waved goodbye with sad looks on their faces. She smiled and waved back before completely stepping through herself. She felt the surge of magic flow through her as she traveled between the worlds. When she emerged, she suddenly felt unbalanced and quickly fell onto all fours. "This'll take some getting used to again," she commented, looking at her pony legs. "But it's good to be home." She smiled to herself as she looked up and saw her unicorn horn. "Um, hello? Anyone here?" she called out to the empty, dark library as the Crystal Mirror stood behind her.

All of a sudden, the lights came on and confetti rained down all around her. "SURPRISE!" Six ponies jumped out and Sunset saw balloons and decorations all around the library, along with a large table of food and desserts.

"Wh-what is all this?" she asked as the ponies surrounded her with hugs.

"Why it's a welcome home party of course!" Pinkie Pie explained.

"You guys did all this… for me?" she asked in disbelief.

"Of course!" Twilight exclaimed. "When you said in your latest letter that you decided you wanted to come back to Equestria, I had Pinkie Pie put everything together to give you a big welcome!"

"Wow, that really means alot to me. Thank you!"

"Anything for a friend," Twilight smiled.

"Now let's party!" Pinkie exclaimed. The ponies danced and ate for hours as Sunset and Twilight reminisced about their adventures in the human world. Their fun was cut short, however, when Spike burped out a scroll.

"What's that?" Sunset asked.

Twilight used her magic to bring the scroll over to her as she quickly read it. "It's from Princess Celestia! She says she needs to see us in Canterlot immediately. It's urgent!"

"All right, I wonder what monster we're gonna fight this time!" Rainbow Dash.

"You don't know if it's a monster fight! She could be sending us somewhere for a diplomatic mission, like the Crystal Empire, or Manehattan!" Rarity insisted.

"Well whatever it is, we're not going to find out what it is just by sitting here!" Twilight declared as the ponies began heading out of the castle. They stopped, however, when they noticed Sunset had not moved from where she was standing. "Sunset Shimmer, aren't you coming with us?"

"O-oh, are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked. "I don't know if Princess Celestia will want to see me."

Twilight closed her eyes briefly and smiled before walking over to Sunset and putting her leg around her. "I think she'll be very happy to see you. Besides, this way you can finally have some closure!"

Sunset took a deep breath and exhaled. "You're right. I've been running from what I did and said to Princess Celestia when I left. It's time to put the past behind me." The seven ponies and Spike boarded the train to Canterlot and within a few hours, they arrived at the marvelous royal city. The royal guards escorted them to the castle and announced their arrival to the two princesses in the main throne room.

"Thank you for arriving on such short notice everyone. I- Sunset Shimmer?" Celestia gasped with wide eyes. Sunset quickly lowered her head in shame and hesitantly stepped out in front to face the princess.

"H-hello, Princess Celestia," she said nervously, trying to avoid looking at her in the eyes.

"You've returned from beyond the mirror."

"Yes! I-I thought it was time that I return to Equestria. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am, Princess Celestia, for everything I did and said that night! You were trying to teach me an important lesson and I was just too stubborn and arrogant to see it. I know you must have been furious with me."

"I forgive you," Celestia said.

"Y-you do?" Sunset asked, in shock, finally meeting the princess' eyes.

"Yes. I was never furious with you, Sunset Shimmer," she said, gently placing her hoof on Sunset's cheek. "I was only sad because I thought you had lost your way, but I'm glad to see that you have found it."

"I have! And it was all thanks to Twilight," Sunset smiled at the purple alicorn.

"So, why did you call us here, Princess Celestia?" Fluttershy asked.

"I've received urgent news from the kingdom of Wu Xing," she began.

"Wu Xing?" they all asked.

"Never heard of that place before," Rainbow Dash said casually.

"Where is this Wu Xing? Doesn't sound like any place I know of in Equestria," said Applejack.

"That's because Wu Xing is not a land in Equestria," Luna stated. "It is a kingdom beyond the seas to the west and like Equestria, it is ruled by its own alicorn princesses."

"The structure of their kingdom is actually quite similar to ours," Celestia continued. "Where we have the Elements of Harmony, the inhabitants of Wu Xing rely on the Aspects of Balance."

"Balance?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. Balance with others, balance with nature and balance with oneself as well," Celestia explained.

"So what's this urgent news you've received from them?" Sunset asked.

"Several years ago, their ruler, King Gold, disappeared without a trace. His daughters have spent years trying to find him or any clue as to where he might have gone, but they have come up with nothing. So they've requested our help in the search. But I'd like to send the lot of you instead."

"Really? Why us?" Twilight asked.

"If the request had come in earlier, when the Elements of Harmony were bound to us, we would have gone. Balance and Harmony aren't too different from each other and I think traveling to Wu Xing will be a great learning experience for all of you. You as well, Sunset Shimmer."

"M-me?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes. As you know from experience, traveling to a new land can teach you a lot about yourself that you didn't know."

Sunset thought about it for a moment and smiled at the princess. "We'll do our best, Princess Celestia."

"I'm confident you will," she smiled. "I've arranged for you all to travel to Wu Xing by boat. You'll have to travel to Vanhoover and board there and it should take you roughly a day to reach Wu Xing's capital."

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 **I hope I'm portraying the Mane 6 and Co. well. I don't follow the show 100%, but I do catch some episodes every now and then. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story. Since it's a side project, anticipate short chapters and a fast pace.**


	2. The Kingdom of Wu Xing

**So to say that I'm on the hype train for this would be an understatement. I shit you not I've got at least seven chapters all written up. Granted since the chapter lengths are immensely shorter than my usual average length of 4500 words, but still, I'm word diarrheaing all over my google docs. But still, I hope you guys enjoy the story for however short it may last.**

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The ponies didn't waste any time in packing their things and taking the train to Vanhoover. Once they arrived, they made their way to the docks and boarded the boat Celestia had chartered for them. It was a long and slow ride there on the calm seas as their vessel rocked back and forth gently.

"I wonder what we'll see in Wu Xing and how different it'll be from Equestria," Fluttershy exclaimed softly.

"Ah, you lassies never been to Wu Xing, have ye?" the ship's captain asked.

"Have you been there before, sir?" Rarity asked.

"Tons o' times!" he exclaimed.

"What's it like over there?" Applejack asked next.

"Very natural, but also mythical like it was straight out o' a fairy tale book! The capital city is just buzzing with ponies going about their business. Lots o' fancy n' high class stuff too. Them buildings are pretty spiffy too!"

"Oohoho, sounds like my kind of place!" Rarity giggled with glee.

"What can you tell us about the princesses that rule there?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, everyone in Wu Xing knows the history o' the royal family! You see, it all started back ages ago when the twin sons Gold and Silver were born. Gold was the oldest, so he was set to take the throne, but his brother, Silver, grew jealous and tried to take the throne for himself. As punishment, Gold turned Silver into a statue and sealed him in the catacombs beneath the palace, where it's rumored he still is today!" he narrated dramatically.

"Sounds an awful lot like what happened between Celestia and Luna a thousand years ago," Pinkie commented with an excited smile.

"I reckon. You see the King was awful worried that what happened between him and his brother would happen between his four daughters, so he always taught them the importance of family. You'll never find a closer group of sisters than the Elemental Princesses!" the captain continued.

"Elemental Princesses?" Sunset asked.

"Why are they called that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, because they represent the elements, o' course!"

"Like the Elements of Harmony?" Applejack asked.

"No, no, the elements o' nature, balance! Wu Xing values five elements o' nature to achieve balance: metal, fire, water, air and earth. King Gold and his brother were metal and Gold's daughters represent the other four."

"Do you know anything about King Gold's disappearance? That's why we're being sent here," Twilight explained.

"Can't say that I do, I'm afraid. A real mystery, it is."

"What about the princesses' mother? Isn't the Queen around?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The captain shook his head. "Queen Juno left this earthly plain long ago. Us earth ponies don't live as long as them alicorns."

"Queen Juno was an earth pony?" Applejack asked.

"That she was! After the whole Silver betrayal thing, Gold's parents - the King and Queen at the time - tried settin' him up with tons of prospective princesses, like Princess Amore from the Crystal Empire and even Princess Celestia!"

"Celestia was going to marry King Gold?" they all exclaimed.

"Apparently. But it wasn't meant to be. You see, Gold was smitten with Juno. His parents were against it since she was only a commoner, but Gold married her anyway. She didn't live as long as Gold and their children, but everyone in Wu Xing still remembers their Kind Queen Juno."

"Land ho!" the lookout from above called.

"Ah, looks like we've arrived!" the ponies gathered at the bow of the boat and marveled at the sight of the land ahead.

"Whoa, what's that!" cried Rainbow Dash, pointing at a wall of water ahead of them, blocking the way into a cove.

"That there's the Sea Wall!" the captain called. "Princess Neptune set that up as a security measure. She'll let us in once we get close and she sees the flags we got!" he said, motioning to the Canterlot flags that decorated the ship and flapped in the wind. Sure enough, as they drew closer to the wall of water, the waters parted just enough to let the ship pass.

As they entered the cove, Sunset spotted something on the shore. She squinted her eyes to get a better look and saw that it was a dark blue pony with flowing, watery hair and a golden trident. Before she could say anything, the pony dove into the water and disappeared. "What was that?" she gasped.

"What is it Sunset?" Twilight asked, coming over to her.

"I thought I just saw…"

"Ah, lucky you! That there was Princess Neptune! She's the second eldest of the Elemental Princesses. She rules all the waters of Wu Xing," the captain explained as he steered the ship into the cove, where all the ponies marveled at the brilliant palace in front of them.

"So what are the other three princesses?" Spike asked.

"Well, after Neptune, there's Princess Jupiter. She rules the skies. You ain't gonna find another pegasus that can outfly her."

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Rainbow Dash boasted in pride as the captain continued.

"The youngest is Princess Terra, who rules the forests. We don't see her as often; she likes the peace and quiet in the woods. Then the eldest one is Princess Vesta. She's in charge of the entire kingdom!" he explained as the boat came to a stop at the docks and ponies worked to secure it.

"Well, we've got a few hours before we're scheduled to meet with Princess Vesta. Maybe we should take a look around the city?" Twilight suggested.

"Oh, that sounds absolutely marvelous, darling! I can't wait to see what kind of fashion styles and jewels they have here!" Rarity dashed off without another word.

"I'll come with you Rarity!" Spike exclaimed, eagerly following after her.

"And I wanna see what kind of desserts they have here!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I'll come with ya," Applejack said. "Might find some new apple recipes!"

"I think I'll go and see if I can find a park and meet the little critters they have here," Fluttershy whispered.

"What about you Rainbow Dash?" Sunset asked.

"I think I'll fly around the skies for a bit. See if I can find this so-called 'Princess of the Skies'. We'll see which of us is faster! Later!" Rainbow Dash zoomed away, leaving Twilight and Sunset together.

"Well, I guess it's just us!" Twilight smiled and the two ponies began strolling through the city. Eventually, they found themselves in a outdoor bazaar.

"Wow, look at all the things they have for sale here!" Sunset marveled at the sight of all the shops and their wares.

"Silver bangles? Silver bangles?" called a shopkeep, a silver unicorn with dark brown hair and red eyes. He wore a dusty brown cloak that covered most of his body. "Only 50 Yuan!"

"Hey, these are pretty nice," Sunset said, admiring the bracelets.

"Did you make these all yourself?" Twilight asked.

"Every one! I'm a silversmith after all. The name's Revlis. Now, would you two lovely ponies like to take a look at some bracelets?"

They were about to stop and look at the silver bracelets, until Twilight spotted a bookstand a few spots down. "Oh, look a bookstand! Do you mind if I take a look?" she asked Sunset with excited eyes.

"Go ahead, Twilight," Sunset smiled as Twilight dashed off to the book stand. "Sorry about that. She just loves her books. Your bracelets look wonderful!" she said as Revlis waved goodbye. By the time Sunset caught up with her, Twilight had a stack of five books all ready to purchase.

"Oh oh, a history of Wu Xing! I should get one of these as well so I can learn more about the kingdom! How much will that all come to?"

"Let's see, six books, 300 Yuan each, that'll be 1800 Yuan."

"Yuan? Oh, I only have Bits, I'm afraid," Twilight said, rummaging through her bag.

"Oh, we accept Bits as well. In Bits, the price comes to 300."

"Wow, that's still a lot. I don't know if I'll be able to buy all of them," Twilight lamented.

"Maybe you should only get one for now then," Sunset suggested.

"You're probably right," Twilight smiled. "I'll just take _The History of Wu Xing_ please. Huh? What's wrong?" she asked the shopkeeper when she noticed him suddenly gasp and back up.

"M-my apologies," he cleared his throat and stepped back up to the counter back up to them. "But you look just like Princess Vesta!"

"Who? Me?" Sunset asked, pointing to herself.

"Yes, you!"

"R-really?"

"Indeed! The golden coat, the hair like wildfire! Although, you are much smaller and you don't have wings that are on fire, but still, the resemblance is uncanny!" he exclaimed, before turning his attention back to Twilight. "Oh, yes, just 50 Bits then. Thank you, come again!" he waved as the two ponies walked away from the stall.

"Well, that was a little weird," Sunset commented, "I've never even seen what this Princess Vesta looks like."

"It's probably just a coincidence. Tons of ponies have the same color coat and mane!"

"You're probably right," she smiled.

"So, I know you didn't say much when you wrote me telling me you wanted to come back to Equestria. Was there anything you wanted to talk about now that we have a moment alone?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, there is. It wasn't just homesick that I was feeling. I… You were right when I said I needed closure and there's still one thing I need closure with."

"What is it?"

"I want to find my parents."

"Your parents? You mean you don't know where they are?"

"I don't even know who they are, Twilight. Ever since you stopped me as a demon, I had a lot of time to think about why I was so obsessed with power. I was so deep into my obsession that I forgot the reason I wanted to become stronger in the first place. I thought that if I became strong enough with magic, then I'd be able to find my parents, or they'd come and find me!"

"Well, where did you grow up? That might be a good place to start!"

"That's just it. Whatever home I had, I don't remember it! Before I became Celestia's student, I was attending her School for Gifted Unicorns. And before that, I lived in the Canterlot Orphanage. The caretakers there said that I had just wandered into the city on my own. When they asked me where I came from, I… I couldn't even remember! Sunset Shimmer was what the caretakers at the orphanage named me. Whatever name or life I had before I stumbled into Canterlot… I don't know. I just feel like there's something missing inside of me," Sunset sighed, hanging her head.

Seeing this, Twilight put her leg around Sunset's shoulders reassuringly. "Hey, when we're done helping the princesses of Wu Xing, I promise you that we'll dedicate all our time to helping you find your parents!"

"Really?" Sunset perked up.

"Of course! You're our friend, Sunset and we help our friends!"

"Thank you, Twilight, for everything!" Sunset hugged Twilight tightly as the princess returned the hug.

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 **Now, before someone asks, no, I don't intend on drawing Wu Xing. Frankly, I'm not a location artist. It's just not my thing and I'm not going to spend an excessive amount of time describing the location. Again and personally, just not my thing. If I were to describe it, I'd call it an Asian-Roman fusion since the concept behind the princesses is Asian based and they have Roman names.**

 **Sunset's exact origins beyond being Celestia's students have never been fully explored so I'm pretty taking the reigns on that.**

 **Next chapter: The Mane 7 learn about the Shadowlands as they meet the Elemental Princesses.**


	3. The Elemental Princesses

**Ask and ye shall receive! Glad those of you who are reading are enjoying it and I hope that continues!**

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Twilight and Sunset arrived at the Wu Xing royal palace, a glorious structure with four towers surrounding a fifth, taller tower in the center, curved rooftops and decorative statues, flags and banners. It was truly a remarkable sight! The rest of their friends waited for them just outside the main gates, which was guarded by two unicorn guards. Once Twilight and Sunset arrived, the front gates opened and the guards stood aside to let them pass. The courtyard was a large and wide open space filled with pristinely trimmed hedges, stone walkways and a beautiful waterfall fountain. As the ponies marveled at the beauty around them, an orange colored pegasus with burgundy hair and bright cyan eyes flew down and landed in front of him. He was dressed like the guards, in bright yellow armor, with an orange wing and torch insignia on his chest.

"Greetings," he bowed. As he stood up, he suddenly gasped and stared at them with wide eyes.

"Uh, y'all right there?" Applejack asked as the pegasus slowly moved closer towards them as his eyes focused in on Sunset.

Before Sunset could voice her concern, he suddenly drew back and whispered quietly to himself, "No, it couldn't be…" When he saw the ponies looking at him with concerned and confused looks, he quickly cleared his and stood back up straight. "My name is Prometheus, Captain of the Flame Guard."

"The Flame Guard? What's that?" asked Spike.

"Princess Vesta's personal guard. Each of the princesses has one. I am here to welcome you to Wu Xing and escort you to the princesses. Please, follow me," he said, as he led the ponies into the elaborate palace. They barely had time to admire the interior decor before Prometheus led them into a long hallway decorated with beautiful wall scrolls.

"Wow, what are those?" Sunset asked.

"Scrolls detailing the history of the royal family," he explained, walking over to one with a gold and silver alicorn. "This one here depicts the fall of Prince Silver and this," he continued, moving to another scroll with the same gold alicorn, this time accompanied by a blue earth pony and four little alicorns in yellow, blue, silver and green, "shows the birth of the four princesses to our King and Queen."

"How about this one?" Twilight asked, looking at a scroll showing dark swirling shadows with pony-like figures mixed in, carrying a little yellow bundle away from the palace.

Prometheus walked up to the scroll and looked at the piece with sad eyes. The other ponies quickly noticed this and looked at each other awkwardly before Prometheus spoke again. "We mustn't keep the princesses waiting." Following him, they reached a pair of large doors at the end of the hall, guarded by two more unicorn guards who used their magic to open the door for them. "May I present, the Elemental Princesses of Wu Xing!" Prometheus announced, as Twilight and her friends entered the vast throne room. On the opposite end of the room, they saw four beautiful alicorns standing before them. The smallest was green, with dark green hair and bright green streaks, and covered in leaves and flowers. The next was a silver colored alicorn with short, curly hair that looked like clouds. The third was dark blue with a mane of pure water carrying a golden trident. Finally, the tallest was yellow with a mane of burning flames. Each of them wore a silver bracelet like the one's Revlis was selling in the market.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Twilight bowed. Her friends followed her example and bowed as well. "My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends," she introduced them all by name as the largest alicorn stepped towards them. Like Prometheus, her eyes were fixated on Sunset, but Prometheus stepped between them and covertly shook his head with sad eyes. Vesta sighed in disappointment before standing up straight.

"I appreciate the quick response to our request for help. Now, where are Princess Celestia and Luna?" she asked, looking around for the two alicorns.

"Oh, um, they weren't able to come so they sent us instead!" Twilight said with a nervous smile.

"...I see," she said, disappointed. "Then you have made this journey for nothing."

"Huh?" they all asked in confusion.

"My request for was Princess Celestia and Luna. Seeing as none of you are neither, you may take your leave and return to Equestria," she said, quickly turning away.

"Hey now, we came a long way to help you!" Sunset declared, but Prometheus stepped in their way and glared at them.

"Princess Vesta, if I may?" The ponies quickly turned behind them when they heard a new voice. Behind them entered a tall light green pony with dark purple belly, bright orange mane and two curved purple horns. He wasn't like any pony they had ever seen before! His body looked scaly and his front legs had claws! "Perhaps Celestia and Luna have a good reason for sending these ponies to us instead. Celestia and Luna are just as busy as you are and one would infer that the two princesses must place a great deal of trust and faith in these ponies if the princesses sent them in their stead. According to the information I've gathered, this is the newest princess of Equestria, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. These ponies are the ones responsible for the defeat of various threats to Equestria: Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and most recently, Lord Tirek."

"Lord Tirek? The magic thief?" the grey alicorn asked.

"Yes. I suggest we give them the benefit of the doubt and see what they have to offer. I don't believe we have the luxury to turn away help now."

"Hm… I suppose you are right, Streak. Very well, you may stay," Vesta declared.

"I don't mean to be rude, but, what kinda pony are ya?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, I've never seen a pony quite like you before," Rarity added.

"I am a qilin," Streak answered. "My sister and I come from the Qilin Glades deep in the woods of Wu Xing. I'd say we are similar to you unicorns in that we are magic users. There are not many of us left, unfortunately."

"His name is Lucky Streak and he is my royal advisor," Vesta added. "If he believes you will be of help to us, then you may stay. But do not make me regret this decision," she added in a stern voice.

"Uh… we'll do our best," Twilight said nervously. "So, you need help finding your missing King, right?"

"Our father, King Gold," the blue alicorn spoke. Sunset quickly recognized her as Princess Neptune, whom she caught a glimpse of earlier when they pulled into the cove.

"He disappeared several years ago without a trace. We've tried everything we can to search for him," Vesta explained.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but how come you didn't ask for help sooner?" Fluttershy asked.

"For the most part, we believed we were capable of handling it ourselves. But our father is proving far more difficult to find than we anticipated. Either he does not wish to be found, or worse…" Neptune stated.

"And the situation has grown too dire. The Shadowlands have been displaying unusual activity as of late and I am concerned they may attempt to invade our kingdom once more," Vesta explained.

"The Shadowlands? What the heck is that?" Rainbow Dash asked as Vesta continued.

"The homeland of the Shadow Ponies and it is not far off from our borders. As I understand it, you have dealt with such a being before: King Sombra."

"King Sombra?" they all gasped as the ponies and Spike recalled their battle to save the Crystal Empire.

"He was but a single Shadow Pony and look at what he was capable of doing: powerful dark magic, banishing an entire empire for one thousand years! Now, imagine an entire horde of Shadow Ponies, each almost as dark and powerful as Sombra himself! For years the Shadow Ponies invaded our lands, stealing our young until my father put a stop to it with his barrier of light. In my father's absence, I have been maintaining the barrier, but I am not nearly as powerful as my father was. I fear the Shadow Ponies are sensing the barrier weakening and plan to invade."

"How come the Shadow Ponies only take fillies?" Spike asked.

"Because fillies are easier to infect with their darkness. Newborns and fillies are like blank slates, undecided of who they will be. Therefore, it is easier for the shadows to corrupt them. The loss of a child… it is too much for one to bear," Vesta whispered sadly before straightening back up. Prometheus glanced at her with sad eyes for a moment.

Neptune scoffed as the red gem on her bracelet began glowing faintly, "It had been years since that sister. It is time to move on. You let your emotions get the better of you."

"How dare you? You have no right to say that!" Vesta shouted, advancing over to her sister as her bracelet began glowing as well. "At least I am capable of feeling something!"

"Stop it, both of you!" the green alicorn cried, trying to come between them.

"Stay out of this, Terra!" Neptune warned.

"Don't you yell at her!" Vesta scolded her aquatic sister.

"Hey, what has gotten into the two of you lately!" the grey alicorn, Jupiter shouted as the three of them fought while Terra simple stepped away in fear.

"I thought they were supposed to be close…" Twilight whispered while her friends simply shrugged their shoulders.

"Well, all siblings do fight at some point, no matter how close they are," Rarity added, citing her own experience on the subject.

"Not me! Maud and I are like two peas in a pod! No, no, we're like one pea! That's how close we are!" Pinkie exclaimed in pride and glee.

The glowing of the bracelets slowly died down, as did the quarreling sisters. "Wait, what were we talking about?" Vesta asked, rubbing her head as her sisters were equally confused and shook their heads. "Oh, I remember now. Which is why we must locate my father now more than ever. With his power, we can ensure the barrier does not fall and our kingdom will be safe from the shadows," she said, returning to what she was saying before as if the argument hadn't taken place.

The ponies looked at each other in confusion at how the sisters just suddenly stopped fighting and seemed to have no recollection of arguing. Nevertheless, Sunset stepped forward and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, but can't the other princesses help hold the barrier?"

"The barrier is made of pure light magic, which is the only magic that can affect Shadow Ponies," Prometheus explained.

"But when we defeated King Sombra, we used the Crystal Heart, not light magic," Twilight pointed out.

"The Crystal Heart itself is but one of many forms of light magic. It takes the positive feelings in the hearts of ponies and converts it into light magic. And unfortunately, light magic is a form of magic that neither I nor our younger sisters are capable of using," Neptune explained. "Vesta was the only one to inherit our father's control of light magic. The only other who would be his brother, Prince Silver."

"But he's sorta stuck as a statue and locked up beneath the castle," Jupiter added with a nervous chuckle.

"Ok, so Shadow Pony invasion is a bad thing. So where do we start on finding this King?" Applejack asked.

"We've already tried everything we could think of. We've scoured all of Wu Xing, used every spell we could think of to track him, sent scouts to other lands, even Equestria, and nothing has turned up. It's as if our dad just disappeared off the face of the earth!" Jupiter exclaimed.

"Perhaps you all will be able to provide a fresh perspective and think of something that we haven't already thought of," Vesta said.

"We'll do our best!" Twilight chirped.

Later that night, the ponies gathered in Twilight room before bed. "So Twilight, do you have an idea of what we're going to do?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, we still don't know much about this kingdom or their missing King. So I think we should start by gathering information. I'll start reading this history book of Wu Xing I bought earlier today. I'll have to do some research for any kind of spells that could help too. Do you think the rest of you can maybe go around the capital and ask about the King?" she asked.

"Of course," Fluttershy smiled as she nodded her head.

"You can count on us!" Rainbow Dash declared proudly.

* * *

 **Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that little bit of backstory :) More to come eventually**


	4. Apolla

**Man, I didn't expect this story to be as popular as it is! And while I appreciate the comments, I do encourage more thoughtful reviews. Tell me what you liked or didn't like, anything! Suggestions are also welcome as are questions! I think it would be fun for me to answer any questions you guys have about the story and characters. So, don't hold back, ask any questions you want and I'll answer one with each update! Just a caution though, I won't be answering any spoiler requests.**

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In the middle of the night, while her friends slept, Sunset carefully crept out of her room. She was having trouble getting to sleep. Maybe it was because she was back in Equestria and there was some kind of transdimensional jetlag? Maybe she was excited to finally be home and be around magic again. Or maybe it was because of this weird feeling she kept getting from this place. It was almost like it was familiar to her somehow. But that was impossible, right? She had never even been to Wu Xing or heard of it before now! How could some place that she's never been to feel familiar to her? She wandered through the halls of the palace, hoping that walking around would tire her out so she could get to sleep. She passed by another closed door, but quickly stopped and backtracked to it. She couldn't explain it, but it felt like something was drawing her to this door as she carefully pushed it open with her hoof. Inside, she found a large bedroom decorated with toys and furniture. The walls were covered in little sun emblems as a little bassinet with a mobile stood in the middle of the room.

"A baby room?" Sunset asked herself in confusion as she stepped in, looking around. She absentmindedly stepped on something as she explored the room, causing her to stop in her tracks. Drawing her hoof back, she noticed it was a little stuffed rabbit doll. It was light pink and almost looked brand new, like it had never been used before… or like it hadn't been touched in years. As she looked around the room, she sharply turned around when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. In the doorway, she saw Prometheus with his eyes narrowed in a serious glare.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I couldn't get to sleep so I thought I'd just… walk around for a bit," Sunset responded with a nervous laugh as she quickly made her way past Prometheus and out the door.

"I would advise against entering this room again. Princess Vesta would not take kindly to it," Prometheus said plainly as he shut the doors quietly.

"How come? I mean, who's room is that?" Sunset asked. "It can't be her bedroom; that looks like a baby's room."

"Princess Apolla," he answered.

"Princess Apolla? Who's that? I thought there were only four princesses in Wu Xing: Vesta, Neptune, Jupiter and Terra."

"There are. Apolla is… was Princess Vesta's daughter," he answered sadly.

"'Was'? What happened to her?"

"Sh-she was taken from us!" he cried angrily in a sudden outburst before calming himself down. "Shortly after Apolla was born, the Shadow Ponies attacked and managed to break through the barrier while it was weakened in Gold's absence. Vesta rushed to the front lines to keep them from abducting any of the fillies and push them back with her light magic. She saved countless lives that day, but the Shadows took advantage of her distraction and snatched Princess Apolla from her room."

"Oh… I'm so sorry," Sunset whispered.

"Vesta blames herself, but really, I am the one to blame. I failed to protect Apolla! And Vesta wasted her magic to bring a sorry fool like me back!" Prometheus cried, on the verge of tears.

"Bring you back? I don't understand!"

"I-I'm sorry, I've said too much already. You should return to your room and get some sleep, Sunset Shimmer. There is much for you and your friends to do and you will need all the rest you can get."

"Right… my room. Um, where exactly is it again? I kinda got lost," Sunset smiled innocently. "This castle is a lot bigger than the one in Canterlot."

"Ah, very well. I will lead you back to your quarters. Follow me." Sunset followed Prometheus through the castle as he led her back to her room until she stopped at a large door with five symbols arranged in a pentagon.

"What's this?" Sunset asked.

"That room houses the Aspects of Balance. It is rather difficult to explain, but their power lies here in their original forms as well as in Wu Xing royals. Every member of Wu Xing royalty is born under one of the five alignments. My apologies, but it is not for your eyes."

"Of course, I'm sorry."

"Your room is just at the end of this hall," he pointed with his front right leg.

"Thank you, Prometheus," Sunset said as she strolled down the hall and into her room. Prometheus was about to step away until he noticed a faint orange light coming from underneath the door. He carefully pushed it open and peeked inside. Inside were five metal plaques of the four princesses' cutie marks as well as a fifth featuring a silver sword and shield and a golden crown. The red insignia that resembled a flame was glowing brightly before dimming. Prometheus quickly shut the door and looked down the hall where Sunset Shimmer had gone into her room.

"Could it be?" he muttered to himself. Without a second thought, Prometheus spread his wings wide and took off towards Vesta's private chambers. He lightly knocked on the door and let himself in, as he had done so so many times before.

"P-Prometheus?" Vesta yawned sleepily, "What is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, Princess, but I have some urgent news."

"The Shadowlands?" Vesta asked, quickly standing up, causing her blanket to fall off her body. "Are they attacking?"

"No, it's about Apolla." At the mention of her name, Vesta quickly stiffened and shot her gaze to the floor.

"...I told you to never mention her name again, Prometheus," she muttered angrily. Unbeknownst to her, the red gem in her bracelet began glowing ominously.

"You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. I was the one who failed to protect her! Not you!"

"But it was my decision to leave the palace! They took her because I wasn't here! She was taken because of my decision!"

"A decision that you made that saved countless other fillies. The people celebrated you as their hero!"

"Then why was I the only one to lose everything that day! First Apolla, then you…"

"I wasn't strong enough to protect her! I deserved my fate. You shouldn't have brought me back."

"I already lost Apolla. I couldn't lose you too, Prometheus!"

"But, there's still a chance that she's out there! I believe that-"

"Enough!" Vesta shouted, her mane and the candles that lit her room quickly erupting in flame for a second. "We spent years searching for our little girl, Prometheus, and nothing! I'm tired of getting my hopes up only to have them crushed! My heart can't take it anymore. Our little girl is gone. Please, just… just let her go," Vesta tearfully pleaded as she fell back onto her bed. Prometheus sighed and walked up to Vesta and tenderly stroked her flaming mane with his hoof. As always, her fire didn't burn him. He dared not bring up the subject of Apolla again, knowing that the mere mention of her name was enough to bring her to tears and bring back all that pain and heartache they suffered through. But Prometheus had a sneaking suspicion about this 'Sunset Shimmer'.

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 **I imagine there's nothing I need to say since this chapter says it all. You guys are smart anyway. ;)**


	5. Happy

**Guest asks: why did you wait so long to update?**

 **Well, this story is actually a special condition. Because it's a short, side project of mine, I kinda went on a writing spree and got several chapters done ahead of time. Normally, I like to wait a minimum of a week before I post the next chapter because that's how long I usually take to concept, write and revise/edit a chapter if I'm in the mood. And since so much of this story has already been written up, there isn't much for me to wait for. So, there's no way for me to say this without sounding pretentious, but you're all lucky this is getting updated as quickly as it is. However, don't expect that to carry on however. Eventually we will reach the point where all the chapters I've written will have been uploaded, meaning wait times for subsequent chapters may be longer since I'd have to write them in the moment. So, enjoy the speedy updates while it lasts ;)**

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After a couple days of gathering information, Twilight called her friends together to share in what they learned and hopefully come up with a new idea on finding the missing King Gold. "Really? Nothing?" she exclaimed with wide eyes in shock.

"Well, nothing we didn't already learn from the ship captain that brought us here," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Sorry, Twilight. We did our best, dear," Rarity said.

"It's all right. We'll just have to find some way to find King Gold that Vesta and her sisters haven't already tried!" Twilight groaned. "Which is a lot more difficult than I thought. I went through all the spells I could find, but Prometheus told me that the princesses already tried it!"

"Why not just ask his brother?" a dark blue qilin with bright red hair and green eyes suddenly appeared.

"Waah! Where did you come from?" Twilight gasped.

"Oh, I was just around," she chirped, cocking her head to the side playfully.

"And who are you exactly?" Applejack asked.

"Are you a qilin like the Royal Advisor?" Pinkie Pie smiled.

"Yeah! He's my big brother! I'm called Double Happiness, cuz I'm twice as happy as everyone else, but you can just call me Happy for short!" she said proudly.

"What did you say earlier?" Sunset asked.

"Oh, well, since you guys are having such a hard time trying to find King Gold, why not ask the only other pony in the world who knew him better than anyone?"

"You mean Prince Silver?" Fluttershy whispered.

"That's the one!"

"As in the same Prince Silver that tried to steal the throne from King Gold and was sealed as a statue and hidden beneath the palace over a thousand years ago?" Sunset continued.

"Yeah, that one!" Happy chirped, completely unphased by their words. "Unless you happen to know of another prince named Silver, cuz I don't!"

Rarity scoffed, "We can't just break a renegade prince free! Who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause and what the princesses will say for that matter!"

"It sounds like it could be too dangerous, if you ask me," Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind her long pink hair.

"Well, you don't know what unless you try! Besides, the princesses asked for your help because they ran out of ideas! And they would never think to free Prince Silver and ask him for help!"

"She's got a point," Sunset stated, "It is a wild and crazy idea, but it is something they haven't tried yet."

"But what if this Prince Silver just attacks us when we free him?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well, maybe he won't! He's been sealed for a long time. Maybe he's changed!" Sunset argued. "I know after I stole Twilight crown, I felt guilty and ashamed about it after. Silver's had a thousand years to reflect on his decision."

The others looked to Twilight to decide what to do. "We'll take a look, but we won't free him right away," she said.

"Great! I know a secret passage down to the catacombs! Come on!" Happy beamed as she hopped away like a bunny rabbit.

"Oooh, I like her!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping after Happy while the rest of them followed. Happy led them to a small closet that seemed in every way to be completely ordinary.

"It's just a closet," Sunset noted.

"Well duh! It's not a secret passage for nothing!" Happy laughed, pulling down one of the torches that lit the inside of the closet with her clawed hoof. Suddenly, the floor shook and part of the wall opened, revealing a long, winding staircase.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Fluttershy gulped, hiding behind one of the tapestries. "Maybe I should just stay here, in case the princesses or Prometheus come looking for us."

"Oh, it'll be fine! Just don't tell my brother," she whispered, "I'll never hear the end of it from him. Now, come on!" Happy led the ponies down the staircase until the reached a dark, wet and cold tunnel. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity quickly lit their horns so they could all see.

"Um, Happy, how exactly did you know about this secret passage?" Twilight asked.

"Well, after my brother became the Royal Adviser, we moved into the palace. I got bored one day so I just started exploring the castle and I found all these secret tunnels! Oh, it should be just up ahead," she said. As they followed Happy, they noticed a growing light source. They reached a large open cavern where a beam of light shined in from a hole in the ceiling.

"Uh, I don't see a statue" Applejack observed.

"Uh oh," Happy chirped.

"'Uh oh'? Why 'uh oh'?" Twilight asked.

"Well, the statue is supposed to be here!" Happy exclaimed. "That's what all the books Lucky made me read said!"

"Supposed to be? You mean you've never been down here before?" Rainbow Dash cried.

"Not down this one, not yet. That's really odd… It couldn't have just gotten up and walked away!"

"Or… could it?" Sunset suggested.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"King Gold disappeared, right? He was the one who sealed Prince Silver in a statue and put him here. What if Silver broke out somehow and did something to Gold?" Sunset suggested.

"It's possible. Either way, we should tell the princesses that Prince Silver is missing!" Twilight added.

They all rushed back upstairs to the palace and met with the princesses - minus an absent Terra - Lucky and Prometheus in the throne room.

* * *

"You did what? Happy, how many times have I told you not to go exploring secret tunnels!" Lucky shouted. "They could have collapsed! You could have been buried alive!"

"Oh relax, nothing bad happened!" Happy brushed off his concern.

"But clearly something has," Neptune spoke. "You say there was no statue?"

"That's right. The cavern was completely empty," Twilight nodded.

"Then there are two possibilities," Vesta came in, "One: Silver broke free of his prison and has done something to our father or worse…"

"Worse?" Twilight and her friends exclaimed.

"What could be worse than that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Something has happened to our father, something that has weakened him and caused his spell over Silver to dispel. Regardless, Prince Silver is on the loose. We must find him!" she ordered.

"We'll help too! What does he look like?" Twilight asked.

"We… don't know," Vesta answered hesitantly.

"Y-you don't?" they all exclaimed.

"All of us were born long after our father sealed away Silver so none of us ever actually met him in person. All we know about what he looks like is what we get from these scrolls!" Jupiter said, pointing to the art scrolls hanging in the throne room.

"Silver… with red eyes," Sunset said as she examined the scroll. "Hmm… wait, Twilight!"

"What?"

"Remember that pony selling those silver bangles from the marketplace? His coat was silver and he had red eyes too!"

"It could just be a coincidence, Sunset, like how the bookstand clerk thought you looked like Princess Vesta." Vesta's gaze quickly snapped over to Sunset at Twilight's words, but she immediately brushed it off. "We don't even know if Prince Silver is still in the kingdom!"

"It's still somewhere we could start," Jupiter added.

"Of course you would think that," Neptune said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jupiter cried.

"She means we don't have time to waste on a silly goose chase or your silly ideas when the Shadowlands are practically at our doorstep!" Vesta interjected.

"Just because I'm not as smart as you two doesn't mean I don't have good ideas too!" Jupiter shouted as thunder boomed outside.

"Oh no, not this again," Spike sighed as an argument between the three princesses flared up again.

"Are they normally like this?" Rarity asked Prometheus.

"No, but the disappearance of the King has been difficult for the entire kingdom and for them especially," he answered. "They are under an enormous amount of stress."

As the sisters continued fighting, Sunset at first took a step back, but instead decided to stomp her hoof down. "Enough!" she shouted, briefly earning the sisters' attention. "You're supposed to be sisters! You're not supposed to be fighting!"

"And what would someone like you know?" Neptune asked, rearing her head high in pride.

"I know what it's like to watch people who are supposed to be friends fight! You're sisters! You're supposed to be closer with each other than you are with anyone else! Sisters aren't supposed to fight! We aren't going to figure out what happened to your father by arguing all the time! You're a family!" she emphasized. "You have to stick together!"

The three sisters stared at Sunset in silence before glancing at each other. "Dad used to say that whenever he caught us fighting," Jupiter spoke, breaking the silence.

"And then he'd tell us a story before bed," Vesta added.

"And mom would bring us hot cocoa and we would all reconcile," Neptune smiled, as the three princesses recalled the memory fondly.

"She's right! What has gotten into us!" Jupiter cried. "All we've been able to do lately is just fight and argue! We've practically scared Terra off into the forests because of it! What kind of sisters are we?"

"Terrible ones. And I am mostly to blame," Neptune muttered.

"No, Neptune, you're not," Vesta stopped her.

"But I am. All I've ever done is criticize you. You're a good ruler, Vesta! You always have been. Maybe I was just a bit jealous that you were always the star of the family."

"You know that's not true Neptune! No one else in this family can raise the sea like you!" Vesta praised.

"Or use that cool trident!" Jupiter added.

"And I shouldn't have said that about Apolla. I had no place and it was an awful thing to say! I apologize for that, Vesta. Perhaps part of me is jealous of that too."

"Jealous? Why?"

"Because you have someone who loves you, who shows you unwavering loyalty!" As Neptune spoke, Vesta's eyes drifted over to Prometheus, who blushed at the comment, but maintained a straight posture. "How could anyone have such feelings for someone as cold as I?"

"Neptune," Vesta whispered, lifting Neptune's chin with her hoof, "Don't say that! You're beautiful and a strong-willed pony if I've ever seen one!"

"Any stallion would be lucky to have you, sis!" Jupiter added.

"And I'm no good ruler, Neptune! Ever since dad disappeared, I haven't got a clue what I'm doing!"

"But you always seemed like you did," Neptune noted.

"That was just for show. I-I didn't want you two and Terra to worry about me and I certainly couldn't let the kingdom see that I was so unsure, so doubtful of only reason I've been able to get by doing this for so long was because I knew you three were still here right beside me."

"Always," Neptune and Jupiter said in unison with a smile. Vesta smiled back at the two and three sisters embraced each other. The bracelets on their legs suddenly snapped and fell to the ground. They pulled apart when they noticed the sound of the bracelets striking the ground.

"Oh no, our bracelets!" Jupiter cried.

"That's odd. Why did they all break at the same time?" Twilight asked.

"Poor craftsmanship?" Pinkie suggested.

"That is unlikely. These were presented to us as a gift from the finest silversmith in Wu Xing! They would not just break after such a short amount of time," Neptune reasoned as she lifted the bracelets off the ground with her magic.

"Wait, let me see those bracelets," Lucky said, pulling the bracelets over to him with his magic.

"What is it, Streak?" Vesta asked.

"Princess, these are no ordinary gems affixed into the bracelets. These are Rage Gems!"

"Rage Gems? What are those?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"They don't sound very nice," Fluttershy whispered.

"They most certainly aren't. Rage Gems amplify anger and other negative emotions in the wearer and cause them to start fighting with other ponies for even the silliest of reasons," Lucky explained.

"Well, I certainly won't be using any of those in my next fashion line!" Rarity exclaimed, raising her hoof.

"That would explain all the fighting you three have been doing lately. None of that started until after you received those bracelets!" Prometheus realized.

"Who made these bracelets?" Vesta asked.

"I believe his name was Revlis, your highness," Prometheus responded.

"That's the same name as the silversmith from the market!" Sunset added.

Vesta narrowed her eyes. "Prometheus, send the guards to the marketplace. Find this silversmith and bring him to us!"

"That won't be necessary, Princess Vesta." Everyone's heads turned towards the door, which had just opened to a silver unicorn with red eyes dressed in a cloak.

* * *

 **Again, pretty fast story pace I'm going with here. Anyway, hope you enjoy. As always, leave any questions in your reviews and I'll answer one per update! Please make it clear what questions you are asking me that you wish to be answered.**


	6. The Silver Prince

**Elizabeth asks: If Prometheus is a pegasus and Vesta an alicorn, why wasn't Sunset born a pegasus or alicorn?**

 **Bit of a spoiler there but I'll say this much: So far as we know, princesses can be made, as we see with Twilight and Cadence, who were originally a unicorn and pegasus respectively, but later became alicorns. And as far as I know, the series doesn't elaborate on Celestia and Luna in that regard. Did they become princesses or were they born alicorns because of family royalty? Because we don't know that, I decided to take some free liberty with that.**

 **How it goes for the Elemental Princesses is that each of them was born as either a unicorn (Vesta, Neptune and Terra) or pegasus (Jupiter), but later received their horns/wings upon reaching princesshood. I will not get in to how or why. Plus their mother was technically an earth pony, so perhaps that somehow canceled out the full alicorn thing? Ah, who knows for sure? Pony genetics XD But that's how I see it and I hope that is a sufficient answer for you all :)**

 *******Important message at the end of the chapter so please stay tuned after reading this!*******

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Everyone turned to face the newcomer in the room and all the attention was focused on the cloaked silver unicorn with bright red eyes.

"Hey, you're that same silversmith from the market! The one we were just talking about!" Sunset exclaimed. "Revlis!"

"Wait… Revlis?" Twilight asked. "Revlis… Prince Silver…" she muttered to herself before gasping.

"What is it Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Revlis is Silver spelled backwards!" she realized.

"Well, there's one way we'll know for sure!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying over to him. "Take off that cloak!" Before Revlis could protest, Rainbow Dash took a hold of his cloak and pulled it off him, exposing a large pair of feathery, silver wings.

"Yes, I am Prince Silver, rightful heir to the throne of Wu Xing! I hadn't expected you to see through the magic of those bracelets so soon. I was hoping that you would drive each other out with in-fighting and make my job easier!"

"So you gave us those bracelets with Rage Gems knowingly!" Neptune accused.

"That I did!"

"Why?" Jupiter shouted.

"Because I learned from my experience last time and a direct approach doesn't always work, especially when you're outnumbered! As I feared, the arrival of this Princess of Friendship disrupted my plans so I have no choice but to act on the final phase now! I will not let usurpers like you stain my kingdom's legacy!" he shouted. In a flash of bright light, Silver was suddenly dressed head to toe in black and silver-blue armor. Neptune jumped forth and magically threw her trident at him, but Silver easily caught it with his own magic. "This trident, it is made from metal, isn't it?" he smiled, turning the trident back onto her. Neptune narrowly avoided her own trident as it pierced the carpeted floor.

"Prince Silver, stop this! How did you escape your imprisonment!" Vesta called.

"All I know is I woke up one day and I wasn't a statue anymore! But imagine my surprise when I wake up to new rulers, rulers I've never seen before, with my brother nowhere in sight! It is time for a new age in Wu Xing. It is time for the Silver Age!" Another flash of light occurred and Silver was surrounded with six longswords that hovered around him. He magically threw them down to the ponies, but Neptune stepped forward yet again and erected a wall of ice, blocking the swords altogether.

Jupiter then jumped out from behind the wall and shot a bolt of lightning from her horn at him. Silver smirked as the lightning bolt instead got drawn off course and struck another sword he suddenly materialized.

"How did?" Jupiter gasped, but before she could finish her question, Silver shot a beam of light directly at her. Jupiter fell to the floor and landed with a loud thud, but what they saw horrified them.

"Jupiter!" Neptune cried. Before them was in fact, Princess Jupiter, but as a silver statue, frozen. "Argh, you'll pay for that!" Neptune shouted, flying up to Silver, only to fall prey to the same fate as her sister. Before the others could do anything else, Silver turned his horn onto them and materialized a large metal cage around them. The ponies tried pushing against the bars to free themselves while Vesta, Twilight and Sunset blasted the cage with their magic, but nothing happened. The cage wasn't even scratched!

"Don't bother! Your magic cannot break through mine," he said confidently as he strolled past the caged ponies to the throne. "At last!" he cried with wide eyes and a smile. "The throne is finally mine!" he declared proudly, before sadly lamenting, "I only wish that we'd be doing this together, brother. But I took it back! I took back our kingdom for you," absentmindedly glancing at a portrait of his brother on the wall.

"'Took back'? What are you talking about?" Vesta cried as her fiery mane grew more wild.

"I'm talking about you! I don't know what you did with my brother, but I will right the wrongs I committed against him and take back our kingdom! I will restore honor to the name Silver and I will find out what you did with him!"

"We didn't do anything to him! He was our father!" Vesta shouted.

"Father? No, I won't fall for your tricks!"

"It's not a trick! I am Princess Vesta, first daughter of King Gold and Queen Juno of the Wu Xing royal family!" Vesta declared proudly.

"Silence! You will think twice about addressing your new ruler, King Silver, like that!" His horn shined brightly, ready to turn them all into statues.

"What's going on?"

"Ah! Who?" Silver's horn suddenly stopped glowing as he turned sharply and saw a young green alicorn with pink eyes standing in the window. "Of course, the fourth. I almost forgot about you!"

"Hey, are those my sisters?" Terra asked, noticing the metal statues that resembled her sisters.

"Terra! Get out of here! It's dangerous!" Vesta called.

"Yes, very dangerous indeed!" Silver declared, firing a beam at her. Terra quickly jumped into the air and avoided the beam as it turned the windowsill behind her into solid metal.

"That isn't very nice!" Terra scolded lightly. "How would you like it if someone came into your house and started turning the people you loved into statues!"

"I already know what that feels like! You usurpers took the throne from my brother and I intend to take it back!" Silver declared as he charged with a battlecry.

"Brother?" Terra asked, cocking her head to the side. She did nothing as Silver charged towards her with swords at the ready except glance quickly at the scroll of art depicting the twin brothers: Gold and Silver. She glanced back at Silver just as he was about to reach her and said, "Uncle Silver?" Silver came to a sudden stop in front of Terra with wide eyes and dropped jaw.

"Wh-what did you call me?"

"You're Uncle Silver, right? Papa told us all about you!" she smiled.

"P-papa?"

"Yeah, papa! The King! Your big brother."

"N-no, it can't be. You're lying!" he shouted.

"Why would I lie? Papa always said that a princess must be honest and tru-"

"Truthful…"

"Yeah!" Terra chirped. "Did you finally wake up from your nap?"

"My what?" he asked, confused.

"Your nap! Papa said that you were acting really bad a long time ago, so he had to put you to sleep for a while. He hoped that you'd feel a lot better when you woke up! You're awake now, so, do you?" she asked.

Silver backed away in horror. He couldn't believe this was happening! If what this little alicorn was saying, then that would mean that she… she was his niece! But, that wasn't possible, was it? He had been sealed for so long, so it was possible that Gold had fathered children. If so then… then that means he just attacked his own family! But, he didn't know they were his family! Something on the wall caught Silver's eye as he quickly flew over to it. It was a scroll showing his brother, much older and larger than he had last seen him, with a blue pony in a crown with four little babies. Had he really missed so much? Had he been so blinded by his remorse and desire to do right by Gold that he couldn't see the obvious even when it was right in front of him. The only reason he did this was to make amends with his family. But he had hurt his family instead! "I-it's true, isn't it?" he whispered. "You're all his… my… family… I missed out on everything..." He was so focused on his thoughts and the scroll that he didn't notice Terra fly up to him.

"Terra, be careful!" Vesta warned, but Terra didn't flinch as she neared Silver.

"Are you ok?" she asked. Silver said nothing and kept his eyes on the scroll. Before he knew it, he was shedding tears. Terra saw this and smiled. "There, there," she hushed, moving into hug him. "It's ok." Overcome with regret, Silver broke down in tears as he slowly hovered to the floor, still cradled by his niece. His horn glowed bright as the cage imprisoning the ponies disappeared and Jupiter and Neptune were returned to normal.

"Wh-what happened?" Jupiter groaned.

"Jupiter, Neptune! Are you all right!" Vesta cried in worry, rushing to the two alicorns.

"Yes, I am fine. The last thing I remember was…" Neptune muttered, trying to recall what happened. When she spotted Silver, she suddenly remembered everything. "Terra, get away from him. He's dangerous!" Neptune warned, readying her trident.

Terra instead hushed them as she continued patting Silver on the back, who, to their surprise, was crying. "There, do you feel better now?" she asked, helping Silver up.

Silver magically wiped his tears with the white scarf around his neck. "Y-yes," he sniffed before turning to address the other ponies. "I...I apologize for my actions. I did not know who you truly were. If I had, I would never have done any of that to you."

"He seems quite sincere," Neptune noted with a slight sarcastic tone. "But I find this a little too convenient."

"Yeah, right! You could just be saying that!" Jupiter came out and accused.

"I swear, as a Prince of Wu Xing! I truly do not know what freed me from my prison, but I do know that I could feel the magic that kept me in that state was beginning to weaken. When I emerged, so much had changed and before I knew it, there were new and unknown faces controlling my family's kingdom. I thought you four to be foreign rulers that took over the kingdom, but it seems I was wrong in that assumption. I was so focused, so obsessed with making things right with my brother, I didn't see the obvious that was in front of me the whole time."

"So, this was all just a huge misunderstanding?" Sunset asked.

"Seems awfully… convenient, don't ya think?" Applejack asked.

"Well, I suppose we could have used the Elements of Harmony to beat him like we did with Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis, but we don't have the Elements anymore since we gave them back to the Tree of Harmony since it was losing all its magic without them. But then we could have used our Rainbow Power instead. I guess it doesn't really make a difference which magic we used, but it's kinda nice that this all worked itself out with a neat little bow, right?" Pinkie Pie rambled, somehow tying a big ribbon around Silver's head. He looked at the ribbon and Pinkie in confusion before shaking it off his head.

"But now the question remains: with Prince Silver's return, who is the rightful ruler of Wu Xing?" Vesta asked as they all looked at Silver.

Silver sighed, "To be honest, for the brief moment that I had the throne, it felt rather… hollow. Ruling Wu Xing was something Gold and I were always going to do together and it just doesn't feel right without him. I never really even wanted to be King growing up; Gold was always better at that than me. The reason we fought a thousand years ago was because I was afraid. Our parents were grooming Gold to rule without me and I thought he was going back on our promise. If Wu Xing had their King, what need would they have for a Prince? I was afraid of being forgotten; I was afraid he was going to leave me behind. I should have given him the chance to explain everything to me," he lamented sadly.

"Uh, do you really expect us to believe that you had a life altering revelation just now?" Spike asked suspiciously.

Silver chuckled at the little dragon's question. "I've been trapped as a statue for over a thousand years, little one. There's nothing to do but think about your life and what you want. In life, everyone chooses a goal to reach. Mine was the throne. But when I finally got it, I felt no satisfaction, no joy. I take this to mean that the throne was never what I wanted in the first place. When I tried to take it now, that was out of duty and honor to my brother, something I believed I was supposed to do. I never would have plotted against you all if I knew you were Gold's children. I suppose that is my own fault for not realizing it before. But since you are his children, I see no one more suited to rule in his stead. It may seem like a sudden change to all of you, but like I said, I've had a lot of time to think about what I want."

"I know what that's like," Sunset spoke up. "To work so hard to get something that you think you want, but when you finally have it, you realize it was never what you really wanted."

"Yes," Silver nodded.

"And what do you want now?" Neptune asked cautiously.

"More than anything, I want to tell him how sorry I am. I allowed my jealousy and hurt feelings to control me and because of it… I've missed so much. The wedding… the four of you being born. I missed it all," he whispered remorsefully.

"Well, we can catch you up right now!" Terra beamed happily as she hugged him tightly.

"Uh, I think that'll have to wait," Jupiter said, pointing to the horizon as black misty shadows suddenly began growing in the distance and advancing towards the kingdom.

* * *

 **If you're at all going "gee, that was a fast redemption", please keep in mind that that's really how it goes in MLP: redemption or banishment. Luna and Sunset received immediate redemption in their content and this was really the only way I could see it going for Silver. I just didn't see him getting banished or sealed again.**

 **And I know someone is going to ask: How come Silver didn't know the Elemental Princesses were his nieces? Simple answer: a major case of tunnel vision. When he was freed, he was so focused on his goal that he wasn't able to see anything else. Plus, when he was sealed, Gold hadn't even met Juno yet! And citizens are more likely to refer to them as "Princess _" rather than "Princess _, daughter of King Gold".**

 **Next chapter: Shadowlands Invasion! Twilight and her friends help the Elemental Princesses fight off the Shadow Ponies to give Vesta time to recharge the barrier, but her power alone may not be enough...**

 *******As for my important notice:*******

 **You know what's funny? I was all set to update the chapter on Sunday! I had completely forgotten about all my stories by the end of October because I was so busy over the weekend celebrating my birthday with my family. We went out for dinner on Friday, my brother took me to the mall on Saturday to buy me whatever I wanted and then we went to a video game themed bar with my sister and her husband after! It was a great birthday and I had an awesome time!**

 **So, I wake up Sunday morning and suddenly remember "Oh yeah! I should update my mlp story! It's been a while!" Sitting at my computer, I'm all ready to go and hit "post", that is until I received a very rude anonymous comment.**

 **You know who you are, Guest. Frankly, I am appalled by your rude and unacceptable behavior. Do not speak to me as some self-entitled brat who thinks that my life revolves around posting these stories for your entertainment, because it doesn't. If I could spend all my time drawing and writing, I would! But that's not the world we live in. The world we live in is one where I have to go to work and make money so I can pay my rent and bills! Simply put, your incredibly rude comment killed whatever desire I had to update on Sunday. So instead of blaming me for "making everyone wait", you can instead blame yourself for making everyone wait even longer.**

 **Please do not be under the impression that I update by a set schedule. I do not. I update at random, literally whenever I feel like it. This story only happened to receive more frequent updates because I had so much of it written up already and got excited. But as I stated in the last chapter, enjoy that while it lasts, because it would not go on forever.**

 **I apologize to my other readers for this. It is not my intention to punish all of you for the actions of one anonymous reader. But I wasn't about to give him what he wanted, especially after the way he spoke to me. It's like giving a dog a treat when they do something bad. You don't want to reinforce that bad behavior. So I thank the rest of you readers for your patience and appreciation :)**

 **So, henceforth, every time anyone who so much as complains about why I haven't updated the story yet, I will postpone the update by three days! This does not count for people asking me when I plan to update because 1) the answer is the same: whenever I want and 2) there is a fine line between politely asking and just being plain rude.**


	7. The Shadowland Invasion

**I actually intended to update yesterday, buuuuuut I just bought Rise of the Tomb Raider XD So I completely got lost into that!**

 **Guest asks: How did you get an idea for this story?**

 **Well, the idea first came about with the four Elemental Princesses. I'm the kind of person who loves themes and one of the themes that I love is elements! And since princesses in mlp all seem to have a theme (sun, moon, love, etc.) I thought it would be cool if there were princesses based on the elements. I chose the four primary ones: air, water, earth and fire. When it came to the parents, I drew influence from the Chinese concept of Wu Xing aka the Five Elements (wood, metal, fire, water, earth). Obviously, I combined wood and earth to make way for air. So that left metal, which I chose to divide into Gold and Silver. As I created their backstories, it wasn't until I finalized them that I realized it was basically a repeat of what happened with Celestia and Luna. Hand to god, not my intention, but I decided to roll with it anyway. As for Juno, I was going to just make her an alicorn, but I thought it would be a neat change of pace to make a queen that was an earth pony! For Prometheus, well, he's based on his namesake, kinda. Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to give to man? Pegasus Prometheus tried to steal from the palace and was caught by Vesta lol.**

 **I get asked a lot of times how I get ideas for things and the simple answer is, I just do! I don't do anything special to come up with these, I'm just good and natural at coming up with ideas. I guess my only trick would be that I constantly run "what if" questions in my head. "What if the Queen was only an earth pony instead of an alicorn?"**

* * *

"What's going on?" Twilight cried.

"The barrier! It is weakening. The Shadowlands are invading!" Neptune called.

"Prometheus, rally the guards. We must protect the kingdom. I swear, I will not let them take another newborn from Wu Xing again!" Vesta declared with the stomp of her hoof.

"Right away, princess. Flame Guard, to arms!" Prometheus called, flying off to rally the troops.

"We will keep them at bay, sister," Neptune grinned, readying her trident.

"You focus on recharging that shield!" Jupiter added.

"What can we do to help?" Twilight asked.

"Assist my sisters in repelling the Shadow Ponies as best you can. Prometheus and some of my Flame Guard will stay here to protect me while I focus my energy on recharging the barrier. We must make haste!" The three younger sisters took off through the window to the city below as Twilight her friends ran out of the throne room to help. Vesta left for the central tower of the castle, leaving Silver alone.

Part of him was still trying to process everything that had just happened. In a manner of seconds, the ponies he believed to be foreign invaders were actually his nieces! How could he not have known that? Had he been so focused on his stupid quest that he couldn't see the obvious when it was in front of him? How utterly stupid and foolish he felt! Unfortunately, he didn't have time to let his thoughts linger. His nieces seemed to accept his sincere apology, but words would not make up for trying to turn them against each other like a slimy fox only minutes ago. He needed to prove himself with action.

Down in the streets of the city, ponies screamed and ran as the menacing Shadow Ponies loomed over them. A mare and her filly ran down the street from one Shadow Pony flying above them. The little filly tripped on a rock and fell to the ground. The mare stopped to help her filly back on her feet, but this allowed the Shadow Pony to catch up them. It opened it's mouth wide as sharp fangs gleamed. The mare quickly wrapped her front legs around her filly, trying to protect him as the misty, shadowy being descended onto them. Suddenly, a dark blue alicorn jumped between the two and slashed through the shadow with her golden trident. However, the shadow simply reformed into a pony and hissed at her before dashing off to find another, more easier target.

"P-Princess Neptune!" the mare gasped with a sigh of relief. "I can't thank you enough for saving us!"

"There is no time for words. You must make haste to safety!" Neptune said quickly before dashing off to fend off more Shadow Ponies.

"Come on, this way!" Applejack cried, leading the mare and filly to safety.

"Ugh, there's just too many of them!" Rainbow Dash cried. For every Shadow Pony that Neptune sliced with her trident or washed away with her water, it would simply reform like nothing had happened. Jupiter's winds did little to push them back and even Terra's walls of vines could not stop them. "Every time we thrash one of these Shadow Ponies, they just put themselves back together!"

"We just have to hold them off a little longer until Princess Vesta recharges the barrier!" Twilight cried.

"Well, I hope she's almost ready. I don't know how much longer we can hold out!" Just then, a silver blur flew past them at an incredible speed towards a mass of Shadow Ponies. "Hey, isn't that?" Rainbow Dash pointed.

"Prince Silver!" Twilight exclaimed.

Silver charged towards the Shadow Pony horde, undeterred, as his horn shined brightly. He disappeared into the shadows as Twilight and Rainbow Dash gasped in horror. From within the shadows, however, began shining a bright light. The radiance of it grew and grew until it burst forth, completely eradicating the Shadow Ponies around it as Silver emerged unharmed.

"The Silver Prince has returned!" many ponies gasped in awe. But in the middle of the chaos and panic, they weren't sure whether to be happy or terrified.

"That… was… awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"How did you do that?" Twilight asked.

"Magic can repel the Shadow Ponies, yes, but only light magic can completely eradicate them. What is the status of the barrier?" Silver asked.

"Vesta still needs time," Twilight answered.

"I don't think we have time to spare. Look!" Rainbow Dash cried, pointing to the distance as more shadows advanced onto the kingdom.

"Can you two manage here?" he asked.

"Just barely!" Rainbow Dash scoffed.

"What are you thinking?" Twilight asked him.

"Only light magic can power the barrier that protects us. If I lend my power to Vesta, it should help her recharge the barrier faster!" he declared, flying back to the palace. "Just hold out a little longer!"

As Silver arrived at the palace, Fluttershy was busy tending to a crowd of frightened little animals. "There, there, don't worry. Any minute now, Princess Vesta will scare away those awful Shadow Ponies. Don't be afraid," she hushed tenderly.

"Fluttershy, look out!" Sunset cried as she noticed a Shadow Pony diving towards Fluttershy and her critters. Fluttershy gasped as Sunset ran towards them. She wouldn't make it in time, however, so she fired a beam of magic at the Shadow Pony. A beam of white light emerged from the tip of her horn and struck the Shadow Pony. It flew back, growling and flailing in pain from Sunset's attack before exploding in a burst of light. "Fluttershy, are you ok?" Sunset cried, rushing to her friend.

"Oh, yes. I'm ok," she whispered. "Is everyone else all right?" she asked the critters. Both ponies were too focused on each other to notice exactly what Sunset's magic had done to the Shadow Pony: obliterate it rather than simply knock it back. Prometheus, however, stood on the opposite end of the courtyard, having heard trouble and rushing to aid. He still stared wide-eyed at the young unicorn and what she had done.

"There's no doubt in my mind… She must be…"

Meanwhile, in the tallest tower of the castle, Vesta stood in a beacon of light, groaning as she struggled to pour every ounce of her strength into recharging the barrier. "Vesta!" The flaming alicorn opened her eyes and saw Silver fly onto the platform.

"S-Silver? What are you doing?" she asked, panting heavily.

"We are being overrun. We need the barrier!"

"I-I can't!" she cried. "I'm not strong enough! I've never been as strong as my father!" Silver closed his eyes and took a deep breath before jumping into the beacon with her. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Helping protect our kingdom!" he declared. He touched his horn against hers as the top of his horn began shining brightly like Vesta's. Both their eyes began glowing pure white as the beacon's light grew in intensity. Pulses of energy shot up into the sky as the beacon glowed brighter and brighter. Suddenly, a dome of light energy expanded from the beacon, harmlessly passing over everypony. But when it struck the beings of shadow, they were pushed back as the barrier expanded and covered the entire capital. Vesta and Silver emerged from the beacon and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

"Princess!" Prometheus called, landing on the platform and rushing to her aid.

"Pro-Prometheus," she groaned tiredly. He tucked himself under one of her large, flaming wings and slowly helped her up, but she quickly collapsed again. She was much larger and taller than he, so it was difficult for him to hold her up.

"Are you all right?" he asked tenderly.

"Y-yes, just tired…" she whispered weakly.

"What did he do?" Prometheus asked, cautious looking at the unconscious Silver. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, no," she said, quickly putting that line of thinking to a stop. "He just helped save us all!"

* * *

 **Next chapter: The Wu Xing royals hold a celebration in honor of Silver.**


	8. Celebration

**Elizabeth asks:** **So the Shadow Ponies are like King Sombra or something?**

 **They're similar beings of darkness, but with some differences that I've thrown in myself. They at the very least a different group of shadow ponies. Think of it like Darwin's finches where two groups of similar animals develop different. At the core, the Shadow Ponies are creatures of darkness like Sombra. Both are negatively affected by light magic. But the biggest difference is that the Shadow Ponies that plague Wu Xing have no leader and are essentially like zombies, in that they spread their "infection" of darkness to others.**

* * *

Recharging the light barrier had completely drained Vesta of her strength and she had been confined to her room for nearly three days to recover. Unfortunately, Silver met a similar fate, being completely drained of his strength as well. However, the two alicorns pouring their magic into the barrier made it stronger than ever! "No, princess. You must stay in bed and rest," Prometheus said, gently pushing Vesta back down onto her bed when she made a move to stand up.

"Prometheus, I'm fine. I have a kingdom to attend to!" she protested.

"The kingdom is fine, your highness. The barrier has been recharged and the Shadow Ponies were successfully repelled," Streak added. "My guards have completed the census and every pony in Wu Xing is accounted for. What's best for you now is to rest."

Vesta sighed and settled back into her bed comfortably. "Very well… What of my uncle, Prince Silver?"

"Like you, recharging the barrier took all his strength. He is also recovering. Princess Terra has taken it upon herself to tend to him," Streak answered.

"Can we trust Silver?" Prometheus asked.

"He seems truly remorseful for his actions, both against Gold one thousand years ago and against the princesses," Streak said. "Perhaps it all truly was a misunderstanding."

"We can trust him," Vesta spoke. "He poured all his strength and magic into recharging the barrier to save the kingdom and according to eyewitnesses, he helped on the front lines as well. It will take time to repair the bond of family, but I believe he means us no harm."

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Twilight poked her head in. "I'm sorry Princess Vesta, we don't mean to disturb you, but we just wanted to check up on how you were doing," she said as she and her friends entered the room.

"That is most kind of you, Princess Twilight. And I cannot thank you enough, all of you, for helping save my citizens," Vesta smiled.

"It was our pleasure," Twilight bowed happily.

"Yeah! We weren't about to let these Shadow Ponies win the day!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Well, I believe our victory calls for a celebration," Vesta said.

"A party?" Pinkie beamed excitedly as she quickly pushed her friends aside. "Don't you worry Princess! Pinkie Pie is on it!" With that, Pinkie disappeared down the hall in a cloud of dust.

"My, she is certainly… excitable, isn't she?" Vesta asked.

"You have no idea," Applejack said.

"I hear we're having a party?" Princess Jupiter asked, appearing from one of Vesta's windows.

"How did you find out about it already?" Lucky asked.

"The pink one and Happy have been spreading these invitations all across the capital," she replied, showing them a colorful and decorative flyer.

"B-but she was just here a second ago! How did she manage to make so many invitations and already distribute them!" Prometheus cried in disbelief.

"If there's one thing I've learned, it's never underestimate Pinkie Pie," Twilight said proudly. "She probably ran into Happy along the way."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed before zooming up to Princess Jupiter. "I've been meaning to ask you for a race!"

"A race?" Jupiter asked, confused.

"Yeah! You see, back where we come from, I'm the fastest flier there is!" Rainbow Dash boasted proudly. "And I hear you're the Princess of the Skies! So I wanna see which of us is faster!"

"Oh, is that so? How about this? If you can catch me, we'll race!" Jupiter grinned before disappearing out the window in the blink of an eye.

"H-hey, wait!" Rainbow Dash cried, flying after her.

"Oh dear, something tells me that isn't going to end well," Rarity commented.

"Jupiter's only teasing her," Vesta chuckled. "Chasing Jupiter is the race. And while this party may be what the kingdom needs, we cannot let it distract us."

"What do you mean?" Sunset asked.

"Despite our success in repelling their invasion, the shadows remain a major threat to our kingdom. Even with the combined might of my and Silver's light magic, it is still not up to par with my father's. We must find him if we are to permanently keep out the darkness."

* * *

"Terra, I am perfectly capable of feeding myself," Silver said, resting in a large bed while Terra sat on the side, holding up a bowl of soup and spoon with her magic.

"No! You can't exert yourself, even with your magic! You have to rest!" she insisted, putting her hoof down.

Just then, both alicorns turned their heads when they heard the door open as Neptune entered. "Terra, I see you are taking care of our uncle. May I have a minute with him?" she asked, holding her head up high.

"What for?" she asked.

"I must speak with him, alone," Neptune emphasized. "Please, leave us."

"Well…" Terra said, looking at her uncle, who simply nodded, "Ok." She set down the bowl of soup and stepped out of the room, lingering for a moment to look behind her before the doors were shut with Neptune's magic.

"So, everything has neatly resolved itself, has it?" she asked sternly.

"What is it you wish to discuss with me?" Silver asked, eyeing her cautiously as she strolled around the room, eventually making her way to the bed.

"Tell me, Silver! Is this another ploy of yours to seize the throne?" she asked.

"What?"

"You may have Vesta and Jupiter convinced and sweet little Terra wrapped around your hoof, but I am not so easy to fool! Terra is kind and gentle, but she is also naive and oblivious to danger. If I find out that you are merely taking advantage of her, you will be sorry."

"I already am sorry. I do not deserve the kindness she is displaying to me!" Silver spoke up. "I do not deserve any of this," he gestured to the lavish room around him as he stepped out of the bed and made his way to the window. "I am undeserving of their forgiveness; sometimes I think it would have been better if your sister had just banished me instead."

"Hm," Neptune stepped up to the window next to him. "Believe me, if it were my call, I would have banished you. I consider you more of a potential threat than a possible ally."

"Then why do you not voice these concerns with your sister?" he asked.

"Vesta is the eldest and our leader. I have always trusted in her judgement and even if I didn't disagree with her decisions, she has never led me wrong. She believes you have changed, that you are redeemable and trustworthy. Your assistance with the barrier proved at the very least that you care for the kingdom. Do not prove me right, Silver, or you will have the wrath of the sea upon you!" she warned before making her way towards the bedroom door.

"The sea is a harsh mistress," Silver commented.

Neptune stopped as she reached the door and turned. "Yes, I am."

* * *

Later that night, nearly every pony in Wu Xing gathered at the palace for the large party Pinkie Pie had organized. In such a short amount of time, she was able to produce and send invitations AND decorate the entire palace and the primary ballroom. Twilight and her friends entered the ballroom dressed in beautiful formal gowns that Rarity had made. They couldn't believe that Rarity had actually brought gowns for all of them, but Rarity had replied that she was just being prepared for anything and wanted all her friends to look their best.

Princess Vesta slowly and carefully entered the ballroom, still feeling rather weak, but strong enough to stand and walk on her own. The ponies erupted in cheer as she entered and hailed her as their savior, but she held up her hoof to silence them. "Please! Credit to saving the kingdom does not go to me alone. My wonderful sisters each did their part to protect all of you, as did our new friends from Equestria," she spoke, gesturing to Twilight and her friends as the Wu Xing ponies cheered. "And finally, I wish to extend my deep gratitude to another, without whom we would not be here: Prince Silver!" Instead of cheering, many of the ponies began whispering intensely, but were hushed when Vesta cleared her throat. "I know what many of you may be thinking. You all recall the story, about how Prince Silver rebelled and tried to take the throne from King Gold. But, I believe he has changed and everyone deserves a second chance! And when our home was threatened, he stood alongside us to defend Wu Xing! So, let us celebrate the return of our Silver Prince!" At the end of her rousing speech, the ponies in the ballroom erupted in applause. On cue, the orchestra began playing music as ponies danced.

Prometheus walked up to the flaming princess and extended his hoof out to her. "May I have this dance, Princess?" he asked.

Vesta smiled and placed her hoof on top of his. "You may."

As the party went on, outside on one of the balconies stood Prince Silver, sadly glancing at the party inside. He had heard Vesta's rousing speech as well as the part about him. Even with the ponies reacting positively to her words, there was a tiny little voice in his head that kept telling him he wasn't worthy of their praise. He had tried twice the steal the throne and in both cases, attacked his own family. Even if the second time he didn't know the Princesses were his nieces, it didn't excuse his actions! And yet, the public was able to accept him back and praise him so easily. It baffled him! But more than that, the guilt tore at him, and he couldn't bear to face the people or his nieces after what he had done to them. He spread his wings, ready to take flight and leave Wu Xing behind. Vesta may not have chosen to banish him, but he could choose banishment for himself. It was what he deserved. He didn't deserve to be part of such a wonderful kingdom or be part of such a wonderful family.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!" Silver exclaimed before he could even flap his wings to take flight as Terra suddenly appeared before him.

"Why aren't you enjoying the party?" she asked innocently.

"Uh… I, I do not deserve a party. Not after what I did," he replied sadly, looking away.

"You mean saving the capital?" she asked. "Because I think that's something that is deserving of a party! I think that's what this whole party is for anyway."

"No, not that! For what I did to all of you! I tried to pit you against each other, I tried to overthrow you all!"

"So? Then you didn't want to," she pointed out.

"That still doesn't excuse what I did."

"So, why are you leaving then?" she asked.

"Because I don't deserve the privilege of staying here. Every time I look at you and your sisters, I'm reminded of what I did to you and to my brother and how much I've missed. It's better for everyone if I just leave. Wu Xing has no need of Prince Silver any longer." He walked past her to the edge of the balcony.

"Well, I don't think that's true," Terra said, stopping him. "I only just started to get you know you, but I know I'd miss you lots! And I think the kingdom does need you! Without you, Vesta wouldn't have been able to charge the barrier in time. And if you stay, you can help us find papa! Then you can tell him how sorry you are!"

Silver turned around with wide eyes. "I…"

"At least, stay for the party? Please?" she asked, with big wide, pink eyes. "Oh! Oh! This is my favorite song! Come dance with me, Uncle Silver!" Terra cried. She dashed into the ballroom, magically pulling Silver with her by his scarf. When they reached the center of the dance floor, Terra began tapping her hooves and dancing to the beat of the music. Silver stayed in place and looked all around him, feeling as though all eyes were on him while the other ponies danced with their own partners. "Hehe, come on! You must remember how to dance, right?" Terra giggled, dancing around him. Before he knew it, Silver was tapping one hoof to the beat of the song and joined his niece in dance.

As the celebration continued into the night, Sunset noticed Prometheus leaving the ballroom and followed after him. "Hey, aren't you staying for the party?" she asked him in the privacy of the empty hall.

"As Captain of the Flame Guard, there are other duties I must attend to. You should enjoy the rest of the party, Sunset Shimmer." As he walked away, Sunset quickly ran up to him and blocked his path.

"Hang on! I don't know what's going on here, but I know when someone's hiding something!" she cried, widening her stance to show that she wasn't about to move. "Is it about the King? Do you know something about his disappearance?"

"No! I'm sorry, but Princess Vesta has asked that I leave this alone. If you do not let me pass, I will be forced to act!"

"Then if it's not about the King, then what is it? Is it about me?" she asked. "I know you've been keeping a suspiciously close eye on me ever since that night. Why are you so interested in me? What do you know about me?"

Prometheus stood there silently, showing no visible reaction to her words. It was true, her accusations. Ever since the Flame Aspect reacted to Sunset's presence, Prometheus had developed a theory, one that was proven correct based on what he saw her do to the Shadow Pony yesterday. "I know who you are, even if you don't."

Sunset took a step back and looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Come with me," he said, moving down the halls of the palace as Sunset followed. Soon, they reached the very same room that Sunset had gotten curious over a few nights ago. "Do you remember this room?"

"Yes, you told me it's where the Aspects of Balance used to be held," she answered. Prometheus carefully looked down the ends of the hall to check if the coast was clear before opening the door and waving for Sunset to come in with him. She was hesitant at first, but followed. "Wow…" she whispered at the sight before her. Five metallic symbols against the wall in the shape of a pentagon. She recognized the four on the sides and bottom as the cutie marks of the four princesses while the fifth at the top was a silver shield and sword inside a golden crown. The symbol of Vesta's cutie mark, however, was glowing brightly. "Wh-why is it doing that?"

"The symbols represent the five Aspects of Balance," Prometheus began, pointing to each of the symbols one by one, "Metal, fire, water, air, and earth. Members of the Wu Xing royal family are always born under one of these five alignments and when one is near, their corresponding elemental symbol lights up."

"So, Princess Vesta must be nearby then, right?"

"No. She is still in the banquet hall, along with her sisters and Lord Silver."

"Then why is it lit up?" she asked.

Prometheus looked at her. "Because of you."

"What? M-me? I don't understand."

"I believe you are of Wu Xing royal blood; I believe you are our missing princess."

Sunset stood there in silence, staring at Prometheus with wide eyes before breaking out in laughter. "Haha, oh, that's a good one. Very funny Prometheus."

"I fail to see the humor," he replied simply.

"Me? A princess? I'm not even an alicorn!"

"Neither were Vesta and her sisters when they were born. Our daughter was born a unicorn, with an orange coat and green eyes like mine and hair like wildfire."

"Th-that doesn't prove anything! So what if I happen to look like Princess Vesta? A lot of unrelated ponies look alike!"

"Very well then, refute my claim. Who are your parents and where did you grow up?"

"I… I can't remember. But I was just a kid! Way too early to start remembering things!"

"Then I will present to you my final piece of evidence. When I first saw you, I thought you might be her, but I stopped myself. I did not want to get Vesta's hopes up one again only for them to be crushed from disappointment. But the Flame Aspect's reaction to your presence and what I saw you do during the invasion have only confirmed my suspicions."

"What are you talking about?"

"During the invasion, when you rescued your friend, the pegasus Fluttershy, you used light magic."

"What? No, I just blasted it away!" she argued.

"That is not what I saw. Any form of non-light magic can only briefly repel a Shadow Pony. Only light magic can completely obliterate them. That Shadow Pony disintegrated when you attacked it. Only the Wu Xing bloodline are capable of using light magic, Sunset Shimmer." Prometheus could see the turmoil and confusion in Sunset's expression, but he kept going for one last sentence. "You are Princess Apolla."

* * *

 **I gotta say that I really enjoy writing Terra and Silver AND I really enjoyed writing Neptune being so mean XD It's nice every once in a while to play the mean character when everyone present is mostly nice.**

 **Next chapter: Maaaaaggiiiiic flaaaaashbaaaack O.o**


	9. Magic Flashback

**I was originally going to upload this last night, but lost track finishing up a Legend of Korra character. Head over to deviantart if you wanna see her.**

 **iAmRandom asks: What if Celestia knew about Sunset's true identity and that's why she sent her along with the Mane 6 to Wu Xing?**

 **Believe me, you're not the first one to ask me this. But my answer to that is no, Celestia was unaware that Sunset was the missing Princess Apolla. As a being who is so... all-knowing in the series, I wanted Celestia to at least not know every little thing. Because consider this: if Celestia was aware that Sunset was Apolla, then why not send her back to her family the second she realized it? Celestia wouldn't be so heartless to purposely withhold Vesta's daughter from her. And I think not knowing just helps "humanize" Celestia a bit.**

* * *

A little baby pony lay in a bassinet, sucking on the ear of a rabbit plushie. She cooed happily and excitedly when an orange pegasus poked his head into the bassinet and smiled at her. "I still can't get over how much she looks like you," he laughed, making funny faces that delighted the baby.

"Well, she has your eyes, Prometheus," said a tall yellow alicorn with a flaming mane who lay on a bed against the wall.

"Perhaps," he said, looking at the infant's green eyes that matched his own. "But she is still a spitting image of her mother. It's uncanny, Vesta."

"Bring her to me?" she asked, rather than ordered. Prometheus nodded and lifted the little baby in one leg. The infant cooed happily and clung to him.

"Hm, no wings yet," he noticed, almost disappointed.

Vesta chuckled, "She'll grow into them. But you'll have to wrestle with Jupiter over who gets to teach her to fly." Prometheus brought the baby over to Vesta, who cradled the infant in her front legs before kissing her affectionately.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" he asked, bringing over a baby bottle, which Vesta took a hold of magically and brought it to the hungry infant's lips.

"Yes, I think you'll like it very much," she smiled as Prometheus leaned in closer. "Apolla, after the sun."

"I think it suits her beautifully," he smiled, affectionately brushing aside the infant's wild hair.

* * *

One day, little Apolla slept peacefully in her bassinet, cuddling her rabbit plushie tightly. Suddenly, the door to her room was blasted open with dark magic and the sudden loud noise caused the sleeping Apolla to awaken and cry. Black swirling shadows in the shape of ponies entered the room and stalked up to the bassinet. Suddenly, Apolla was lifted out of her bassinet by the shadows as they moved towards the window.

"No! Apolla!" The shadows were startled by the orange pegasus that charged into the room and fled out the window. The pegasus gave chase, flapping his wings as hard as he could to catch up to the shadows. Apolla cried louder and louder, reaching her little hooves out for the one she recognized as her father. The pegasus drew closer and closer until suddenly, the shadow ponies conjured a spear from the misty shadows that they were made of and drove it straight until the pegasus' chest. His eyes shot wide as he felt the sharp object pierce through him. His jaw dropped as he tried to speak, but no words came out. Then, without any strength left, the pegasus fell to the ground below as the infant wailed in despair, being carried off by the shadows.

Down below, Princess Vesta discovered the fallen pegasus. "Prometheus, no!" she cried, rushing to his side. She fell to her knees in horror at the sight of his battered body and the black spear that pierced his chest. His blood soaked the earth around them as his eyes were wide in shock… and completely lifeless. "No, no, no, no," she muttered "Don't leave me, Prometheus." She broke down in tears as she cradled the lifeless pegasus in her front legs. She sat like that for a while, until she suddenly opened her eyes in realization. She gently lay Prometheus back on the ground and stood up on her feet. "Don't worry, Prometheus. I will save you." With that, she closed her eyes as her horn began glowing brightly. She opened her eyes, which were now glowing pure white as her magic lifted her into the air. With all her strength, she aimed her horn and fired a beam of white light at Prometheus' body. The lifeless pegasus' body rose into the air as the shadow spear that struck his chest disappeared and the wound it left suddenly closed. Color suddenly returned to the pegasus' face as his eyes shot open and he inhaled sharply. Vesta drew back her horn as she landed on the ground, carefully catching Prometheus as her magic slowly lowered him back down. "Shh, shh," she hushed him tenderly as he coughed and took sudden, quick breaths in panic.

"Wh-what happened?" he panted heavily, leaning back into Vesta's legs.

"You were dead," she answered. "But I brought you back." Prometheus suddenly began to weep uncontrollably as Vesta tried consoling him, "You're all right now, Prometheus. Everything is all right."

"No, it's not," he cried.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I couldn't protect her… I've failed you my princess!" As Prometheus wept, Vesta's gaze moved up to the window of her child's bedroom. She looked up in horror at the sight of the destroyed window, like some monstrous creature had burst out through it. Setting Prometheus down gently, she flew up to the hole in the castle walls and hesitantly landed in her baby's nursery. She could see evidence of lingering black mist on the carpets and debris as she made her way to the bassinet, praying that her child would be lying within, undisturbed.

Instead, she recoiled back at the sight of the empty bassinet and began breathing frantically. "N-no, no… NOOO!" The mare's pained cries echoed through the night sky like a wolf howling in lament over her lost cubs.

The kingdom mourned the loss of Princess Apolla, but the ponies celebrated Vesta as their hero. Vesta felt herself unable to enjoy the celebration in her honor and retired to her quarters, where she spent most of her time. Even her sisters could not convince her to come out. Vesta secluded herself, unable to cope with the loss of her child. That is, until rumors circulated that perhaps Apolla had survived and escaped from the Shadowlands. Vesta clung to these rumors, believing that perhaps her child was indeed alive. But every time someone came forth, claiming to have found the missing princess, she was met with disappointment, for none of them were her daughter. Every time her heart rose with hope and every time, it sank with disappointment, breaking over and over again. The worst came about when a pony claimed to have found Apolla. It certainly looked like her, but it was all a scam. The con pony had been hoping to squeeze a reward out of her by training a young pony to pass off as Apolla. He had even changed her hair to match Vesta's. Vesta and Prometheus, desperate to be reunited with their child, almost believed the ruse. But her sisters exposed the deception. Unable to bear the pain any longer, Vesta conceded that her child was truly gone… forever, lost to the shadows.

But such was not the fate of Princess Apolla. As the shadows carried her across Wu Xing, the little infant cried and struggled, but the shadows kept a tight grip on her, unwilling to let the only catch they acquired on their raid go. Apolla cried louder and louder until suddenly her horn lit up in a flash of bright light and the Shadow Ponies carrying her were immediately obliterated. Apolla landed on a thick patch of grass and kept crying on and on through the night.

* * *

Sunset stood in silence as she stared at Prometheus with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. "I… I remember," she whispered. "Y-you were trying to save me, but… they killed you. I saw you die!" Prometheus nodded and slowly removed his breastplate, revealing a hideous, old scar across his chest. "But, how are you here now?" Sunset cried.

"Princess Vesta used her power to return me to life. It is a power unique only to the Aspect of Fire. Fire is not only heat and energy, it is also the spark of life. The shadows killed me as I tried to rescue you and Vesta resurrected me."

"Th-this is just too much to take in! I… I need to go!" Sunset stepped back before turning to leave. All she had ever wanted was to know where she came from, but now that she was hearing it, she almost couldn't believe it! This was her home? She… she was a princess?

"Sunset, wait, please!" Prometheus called out to her, prompting her to stop as she reached the door. "I ask that you keep the news of this revelation to yourself. I do not want Vesta to know yet. Even if I back you, she will reject any claims of you being Apolla. She's been hurt too many times and she'll turn you away to try and protect herself from more pain." Sunset nodded. "And I think it best you do not tell your friends about this as well."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Please. Take as much time as you need to sort this out, but I ask that this stay between you and me."

Sunset looked at Prometheus, unsure, but nodded in agreement, "Ok." Sunset barely got any sleep that night after this startling revelation. It was just too much for her to process in the moment! She was so lost in her own thoughts that she barely noticed Applejack calling her. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were ok, Sunset. You've been staring at that same book for nearly ten minutes now," Applejack noted, pointing to the books on the shelf in the study.

"Oh, sorry, I just didn't get enough sleep last night," she said, yawning and smiling at Applejack.

"Well, if you need to, take a short break, Sunset," Applejack said, turning to walk to another section of the bookshelves.

"I will!"

"So, what are we looking for again?" Spike asked as all the ponies slowly looked through the books in the study, scanning the titles of each book while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to the upper shelves.

"Spike, this is King Gold's study remember? We're trying to find any clues that could explain why King Gold disappeared," Twilight explained. "And since Prince Silver didn't know anything about it like we had hoped, this is the next best thing I can think of!"

"The Princesses did say that he spent a lot of time here. Maybe he's got a journal or something," Rainbow Dash said, hovering by the upper shelves.

"He does have a journal right here," Twilight said, lifting up a golden book that sat on a large, ornate wooden desk with elaborate carvings.

"But the Princesses said they already looked through it and didn't find anything helpful! How are we going to find something that they didn't!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Maybe he had a secret journal that the Princesses didn't know about! You know, one where he could keep all his secrets? Like what he was planning to get them for their birthdays!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Um, I don't think that's the sort of thing he'd keep in a secret journal, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Well that's what I'd do! And I'd hide it somewhere secret, but also so obvious that no one would think to look there!"

"Hm… some place obvious…" Twilight thought out loud.

As her friends pondered on the mystery, Sunset absentmindedly stared at the bookshelf before noticing something out of place. "Hm, that's odd… all the books on this shelf are history tomes, but this one here is a map book. It doesn't belong here," she said, pulling out the map book with her magic. Just as the book was lifted off the shelf, she heard a click as the panel of a pedestal holding a statue on the middle of the room opened.

"Hey, a secret hiding spot!" Pinkie pointed out.

The ponies gathered around and saw a worn-out journal sitting inside the concealed compartment. Twilight lifted the book out carefully with her magic and opened the first page. "This is King Gold's journal!"

"But I thought that was King Gold's journal," Spike said, pointing to the larger, pristine book on the desk.

"Spike, I mean this is a secret journal that he kept," Twilight said.

"But why would he need to keep a secret journal?" Applejack asked.

"Maybe it has something that he didn't want the Princesses to know about?" Sunset suggested.

"Hm, let's see," Twilight said, carefully but quickly reading through the journal's contents.

"What does it say, Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered.

"It seems King Gold was researching about the Shadow Ponies," she answered.

"Researching what exactly?" Rarity asked.

"Hang on, listen to this entry. 'The Shadow Ponies ability to infect other ponies with their darkness and assimilate the infected into their collective reminds me very much of a virus. If we can look at this darkness as similar to a viral infection, then perhaps there exists a cure, some sort of vaccine that could be used to purge the darkness from the infected and potentially restore them to their original uncorrupted forms! Light magic must have a role to play in this, since my and Vesta's light magic can completely destroy a Shadow Pony. As I think of it now, if my theory is correct, how many of my own subjects have I killed? At first we believed that anyone infected with the shadows was lost forever, literally a shadow of their former selves, but what if I could find a way to reverse the process? Perhaps some form of combination between my light and healing magic could do the trick, but if the entirety of the Shadow Ponies were to be cured, it would take far more than just myself and perhaps someone of greater healing abilities. If I could acquire a sample or even a Shadow Pony, I could test this hypothesis and figure out the right concentration of both necessary. I cannot tell my girls about this, not yet. They would tell me it is too dangerous, but as King, I must do my duty to my subjects, no matter what the cost to myself.'"

"Oh my!" Rarity gasped.

"Wow, sounds like he must have been trying to find a cure or something. Is that even possible?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know! It sounds crazy to be honest. But from the look of his notes, his theory could very well have been correct!" Twilight said, scanning several more pages of the journal. "We should tell the Princesses about this. If he was really searching for a cure and close to a solution, he might have gone to the Shadowlands."

* * *

 **I was just going to end it at the flashback, but the chapter fell under like three pages and it felt too short to me. Plus I got an idea for the next few chapters and figured now would be a good place to start segwaying into it.**

 **Why do I use cliffhangers? Well, the honest answer is that I don't, at least not consciously. When I'm writing, I don't just decide "oh, I put a cliffhanger here", I just write until I feel like I've reached a sequence that is a good place to end the chapter. Whether it ends up to be a cliffhanger or not, well, it just happens. Besides, cliffhangers are what keep readers on the edge of their seat and entertained.**

 **Oh and this officially marks the end of my pre-written chapters. No this does not mean the story is over; that is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is all those chapters I pre-wrote long ago in a giant writing binge? Yeah this was the last of those. So, what's likely going to happen now is longer time between updates because now I have to write each chapter from here on out as I go along.**

 **Next chapter: With news of their father's theory, Vesta leads an expedition to the Shadowlands.**


	10. The Search for Gold

**I was honestly worried that I wouldn't get this far. When I started this story, I hadn't planned at all what would happen when they finally start finding Gold. But a couple days ago, I got hit with a brainstorm. They always seem to hit me just when I need them! lol :P**

 **Oh! I've also been thinking about making up love interests for the other princesses. Now, these characters won't be part of the main story, just kinda making them up for the sake of making them up, for fun and to hopefully enrich each princess since Vesta is kinda the star here lol. I've decided each of the other sisters will get non-pony LIs, just for design diversity and such. So far, here's what's been decided:  
**

 **-Neptune's LI will be a seapony  
-Jupiter's LI will be a griffin... a female griffin! Because why the fuck not?  
-Terra's LI will be a qilin  
-Silver will also be getting an LI, but not one I'm making up. His LI is a canon character. Can you guess who?**

 **Other than that:**

 **Elisha2003, if you're asking me to send you copies of the chapters, I don't do that.**

 **Matt22152 asks: Well how did Sunset or Apolla get to Equestria? Well that was something I didn't really intend to answer. Just one of those, it just happened, kind of things. But I'd say the most likely event (and the one that makes sense) is that maybe a traveler(s) found her on their way to board a boat to Equestria. Somehow, someway, she wound up in Equestria, with no one knowing who she truly was.**

* * *

Twilight and the others stood in the throne room, watching as the four Princesses gathered around their father's secret journal. Vesta held it up and open with her magic, reading from its pages while her sisters crowded around her doing the same.

"Well?" Jupiter asked, hovering over her sisters as her wings fluttered, keeping her afloat.

"This is most certainly father's writing," Vesta noted.

"Was he really looking for a way to cure Shadow Ponies?" Terra asked.

"The research notes are extensive. This would explain those long nights he spent in his study," Neptune said. "But to cure a Shadow Pony… is such a thing even possible?"

"Father certainly believed so," Vesta reasoned. "And judging from the last entry, he was close to a breakthrough."

"So, that means we know where King Gold disappeared to, right? He said in his last entry that he needed to go the Shadowlands to test his theory. That must be where he went!" Twilight said, stepping forward.

"A notion that causes us only more concern," Vesta said, magically closing the book and setting it down. She strolled over to the window, where they could just see the Shadowlands on the edge of the horizon. Even though they were far away, it almost looked like the shadows were slowly creeping their way towards Wu Xing. "Our father disappeared years ago. If he went to the Shadowlands then one of two things must have happened: he did what research he needed and left, but has chosen or was unable to return home, or he wasn't able to make it out of the Shadowlands at all. I'm not sure which one scares me more."

"If father was doing all this research, why not tell us? We could have helped!" Neptune exclaimed.

"Maybe he didn't want us to worry? Or he thought that we might think it was a bad idea," Terra suggested.

"Or, he wasn't willing to risk the four of you for a theory," Silver said, entering the room. "I know my brother and he was always studious. He wouldn't try an experiment as risky as this unless he knew for sure it would work. And there is no way that he would put you four in jeopardy just to test a hypothesis."

"But to cure Shadow Ponies… we had always assumed that once they were infected, they ceased to be themselves. If it's possible to reverse the shadow infection process, then… My goodness," Vesta gasped, her eyes wide in horror, "How many of my own subjects did I kill?"

"Princess, you couldn't have possibly known," Prometheus said, quickly coming up next to Vesta and gently comforting her.

"Princess Vesta," Sunset spoke up, stepping forward. Prometheus gave Sunset a concerned look, but she gave him a discreet smile and nod before returning her focus to Vesta. "Right now, I know you feel like you've done a terrible thing, but you can't dwell on the past. You can't let the guilt consume you. What's important now is we find King Gold and see if it really is possible to save all of your subjects that have been infected. If there's even a chance at saving them, we should give a try, right?"

Vesta took a deep breath and calmed herself. "You are right, Sunset Shimmer. I can blame myself all I want but it will get us nowhere. You are quite wise for such a young pony," she complimented.

"Thank you, Princess. I've had my own experience with guilt and regret and it almost held me back from helping my friends once," she replied, smiling at Twilight.

"Then there is not a moment to lose! The Shadowlands are the last known location of our father, so we must go there. If we are lucky, he might have left behind some clues as to where he has disappeared to."

"But Vesta, the Shadowlands are dangerous! Father has forbidden us from ever going there!" Jupiter pointed out.

"Then as ruler of Wu Xing in his place, I unforbid it. Desperate times call for desperate measures and as of now, I see no other alternative. Prometheus, begin preparations for an expedition!"

"Right away, your highness," Prometheus saluted.

"Sisters, I know you will all wish to accompany me, but I think it best you all remain here," Vesta said, turning to her sisters.

"What?" they all exclaimed.

"You cannot expect us to just stand by and do nothing as you march into our enemy's lair!" Neptune proclaimed.

"I can and I do. I am the only one of us with light magic. And I couldn't bear the thought of one of you becoming infected by the shadows. Besides, Wu Xing cannot be left without a ruler. Even with the light barrier recharged, if we all go, the kingdom remains vulnerable to attack from others. Who knows what could happen? And… in the worst case scenario, if something does happen and I do not return, then the kingdom will not left without the next ruler," Vesta said solemnly.

"But we-" Jupiter started, but Vesta held up her hoof.

"Please, do this for me sisters. I need to know that you will all be well and that the future of Wu Xing is secured."

Neptune stepped forward and Vesta braced herself for her sister's wrath. But instead, Neptune placed her hoof gently on Vesta's shoulder and said, "Bring father home."

Vesta smiled at Neptune, who returned it with a smile of her own. "I will," Vesta nodded firmly. "I will set out to the Shadowlands with Prometheus and a few of my Flame Guard as soon as they are ready."

"You won't be the only one going," Silver said.

"Uncle Silver?" Terra asked.

"If there's a chance that this could lead us to my brother, then I want to help. And don't tell me that it's too dangerous. Do not forget that I have light magic as well," he boasted proudly.

"It will be good to have you join me, uncle," Vesta smiled.

"What about us?" Twilight asked.

"I do not wish to put your in danger," Vesta said.

"Well, then how about only Twilight and I come with you! We might be able to help!" Sunset suggested.

"If it is all right with your friends that they remain behind. But you must do exactly as I say and stay close. I cannot protect you with my light magic if you wander off." Both ponies nodded.

"Are you guys ok with staying behind?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I'm not! I'm gonna miss all the action!" Rainbow Dash scoffed.

"At least you can occupy yourself with racing Princess Jupiter again. I seem to recall you failing to catch her," Rarity pointed out.

"Oh yeah! Nevermind then, I'm good," Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Never gonna catch me," Jupiter sang playfully.

"You sure you two wanna do this?" Applejack asked. "It could be awful dangerous."

"We're sure, Applejack," Sunset said.

"Besides, it's not any different from the perilous adventures we've had before, right?" Twilight giggled.

"Well, just be careful," Fluttershy whispered.

"And when you get back, I'll have a big celebration ready for you!" Pinkie exclaimed in glee.

"Thanks, Pinkie Pie. In the meantime, do you think you guys can stay here and help the other Princesses while we're gone? You know, if something comes up," Twilight asked.

"You can count on us, you two!" Applejack declared. "Just be safe."

"We will," Sunset and Twilight said in unison.

Outside in the castle courtyard, members of Vesta's flameguard prepared a carriage and began forming a pile of boxes and supplies. "Do we really need so much stuff?" Twilight asked.

"Who knows what we'll encounter when we get there or even how long we'll be there. We need to be ready for anything," Lucky Streak replied, checking off a list as two Flame Guard ponies finished piling up the supplies.

"Are you coming too, Streak?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, the Princess requested that I accompany her in case my expertise or healing powers may be required," he replied. Suddenly, Happy appeared out of nowhere and latched onto Streak's front leg.

"You better make it back ok!" she exclaimed, wrapping her legs around his tightly.

"Happy…" Streak groaned, trying to shake her off. "Will you behave while I'm gone?" he asked.

"Pfft, do I behave when you're here?" she scoffed.

"Good point. Just… don't break anything and do what the Princesses tell you," he said.

"Ok!" she exclaimed, letting go of his leg before suddenly wrapping her front legs around his neck, something that nearly caught Streak off guard. "Be safe," she said in a muffled voice before pulling away.

"I will," he smiled, gently patting her on the head.

"Princess Vesta, everything is packed and ready to go," Prometheus called. Vesat turned to face him and aimed her horn at the pile. She fired a beam of magic and the supplies suddenly shrunk to the size of small rocks, which Vesta then placed in a satchel. Prometheus closed the satchel and put it over his shoulder. "Princess Twilight, will you be able to make the journey with your wings?"

"Oh, I thought we'd be riding in the carriage," Twilight said, motioning to the nearby carriage that was set up as two Flame Guard pegasi were strapped in, ready to pull it.

"Princess Vesta prefers we travel as light and as easily as possible. So, the carriage will be reserved for the flightless members of our party, Streak and Apol, uh, Sunset," Prometheus said, quickly correcting himself.

"Oh, I see. It's not too far of a flight, is it?" she asked.

"No, the Shadowlands are not far from here. That is part of the reason Wu Xing is their preferred hunting ground," Prometheus answered.

"Then it shouldn't be a problem," Twilight smiled. Vesta, Silver and Prometheus took off into the air, followed closely by Twilight and the carriage containing Streak and Sunset. True to Prometheus' word, the journey did not take long. As they neared the Shadowlands on the horizon, the sky darkened around them as a cold and ominous breeze blew. The atmosphere was completely unsettling, but still they pushed on. As the sight of a massive wall of swirling shadows grew closer, Vesta pulled away to an open clearing in a field as the rest of the party followed after her.

"We will make base here. Uncle, we should examine the perimeter of the Shadowlands. I have never been this close to it before. The rest of you, begin setting up camp," she said. Prometheus opened his satchel and Vesta magically pulled out its contents and returned them to normal size. Twilight and Sunset helped Streak, Prometheus and the two guards set up a few tents for them all to sleep in, should they end up being there longer than anticipated. As Sunset finished setting up the final tent with her magic, Prometheus came over to her.

"How are you faring?" he asked.

"Oh, Prometheus… Dad?" Sunset said out loud, but found it sounded odd to her, so she simply settled with calling him, "Prometheus, I'm ok. It's just… this place, it feels unsettling and familiar all at the same time."

"I can imagine so. This is the home of the Shadow Ponies that plague Wu Xing, where they take all their captured colts and fillies before turning them into Shadow Ponies and where they would have taken you."

"But I got away," she said. "What about you? Are you sure being so close to the Shadowlands is a good idea? You know, after they…" Sunset asked, trying to find the right way to say it.

"You have nothing to fear of the shadows, Sunset. Your light magic will protect you. As for me, when your mother… when Princess Vesta, resurrected me, it imbued me with some of her light magic. Not enough to use to her or your degree, but just enough to protect me from the shadows. So long as your friend remains close to you, Prince Silver or Princess Vesta, then she will be safe." Just then, Vesta and Silver returned. "What news do you have, Princess?" Prometheus asked her.

"The perimeter is surrounded by those walls of shadow. The only entry point is that gate at the base of the wall up ahead," Vesta pointed out to a black, swirling gateway.

"I don't like it. Something feels wrong, like they're expecting us. Otherwise why leave such an obvious opening unprotected?" Silver asked.

"It could be a trap," Twilight pointed out.

"Indeed, but evidence of my father's whereabouts lie within," Vesta said firmly.

"Then let us not waste another minute. We should not spend more time in the heart of the Shadowlands than we have to," Silver added.

"Agreed. Twilight, Sunset, stay close to us at all times. The rest of you remain here," Vesta declared. Twilight and Sunset followed the two royals to the gate leading into the Shadowlands. Vesta and Silver's horns glowed brightly as a radiant, glimmering barrier of light surrounded them. "Remain in the barrier at all times. Should the Shadow Ponies attack, they won't be able to get through." Twilight and Sunset nodded and with that, the party entered the swirling gate. Inside, they saw nothing but a barren wasteland. The ground was dry and devoid of any colors or vegetation and the few trees they did see were pitch black and bore not even a single leaf.

"Where are the Shadow Ponies?" Sunset asked.

"Hiding no doubt, just waiting for their chance to strike. Do not forget: we are the outsiders here and they have the homefield advantage. We cannot let our guard down," Vesta declared, holding her head up high.

"Perhaps we should split up to cover more ground," Silver suggested.

"But that might just make us more viable targets!" Sunset pointed out.

"True, but time is of the essence. Twilight, you go with Silver. Sunset, with me."

As soon as Vesta said that, Sunset's eyes widened and she became nervous. Being alone, one-on-one with her mother? Only Vesta didn't know that she was Sunset's mother, something Sunset had promised Prometheus to conceal for now. ' _Do I tell her?'_ Sunset thought as she followed Vesta through the Shadowlands while Silver and Twilight went off in another direction. ' _But Prometheus… Dad said not to. It still sounds weird calling him that. I mean, I only just found out who he was to me. I never would have guessed in a hundred years that this is where I came from? A princess… that's all I ever wanted to be. Would it be so bad if I told her?'_ "Um, Princess Vesta?" she asked. Her voice was so soft and unsure that she almost sounded like Fluttershy.

"What is it?" Vesta asked, without even turning her head to look at Sunset. Instead, she just kept walking forward, looking around for any clues.

"Well, I heard about what happened with Princess Apolla," Vesta suddenly stopped, but Sunset kept speaking, "and I was just wondering, did you ever come here to look for your daughter?"

Vesta remained quiet for a moment before speaking, "I searched all across Wu Xing as did my guards and my sisters. But we found nothing. Prometheus wanted to search the Shadowlands for her, but I refused."

"How come?"

"Because if there was no sign of Apolla in all of Wu Xing, then she was truly lost to the darkness. I didn't want to see her become one of those things. I'd rather remember her the way she was: innocent, pure and the light of my life," Vesta whispered, hanging her head sadly.

Sunset looked down at her hooves as an uncomfortable silence fell over them. When she finally gathered the courage to speak, she took a step forward. "Princess Vesta, there's something I need to-" Before Sunset could finish her sentence, a bright silver spark of light shot up into the air before exploding like a firework with a red glow.

"That was from Silver!" Vesta shouted, quickly lifting Sunset up with her magic and dashing towards the source of the signal flare. When she rounded a corner, they spotted Silver and Twilight within Silver's light barrier. "What is it? Did you find a clue about father?" Vesta asked as she set Sunset down and the two barriers merged together.

"Not exactly," Twilight said as she and Silver stepped back, revealing a large metal statue of gold in the shape of an alicorn.

* * *

 **I almost wrote "handwriting" instead of "writing". That's one thing I totally forgot with this story that a friend thankfully pointed out: the use of hoof instead of hands and fingers XD I guess that's what happens when I write a pony story after writing about humans and anthros LOL So if you see an instance where I've done something like that, please point it out for me because chances are I'll have missed it .**

 **Next chapter - The Princess of Light: The fate of Gold is revealed as is his solution for curing Shadow Ponies. But when they lack sufficient light magic, Sunset may have to step up and reveal the truth.**


	11. The Princess of Light

**Been a while, been super tired from work and redesigning our RWBY teams. Plus I got super into another cartoon lol. Not gonna lie, the mlp buzz is wearing off, but worry not, I should have enough in the tank to at least finish this story off. And looking at it, I think the next chapter should be it.**

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"I don't understand. How is this possible?" Prometheus exclaimed as they gathered around a large golden statue of an alicorn back at their base camp. "Is it really King Gold?"

"It's faint, but I can detect his magical essence within," Silver said.

"But what could have happened to cause this?" Vesta cried. "Why is my father a statue?"

"Petrification is a powerful and difficult spell to master. I only know of one capable of performing such a spell and we are looking at him," Silver answered.

"You mean, Gold did this to himself?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, I believe so," Silver replied.

"But why would King Gold turn himself into a statue?" asked Twilight.

"Perhaps that is how the petrification spell on you broke, uncle. When my father cast the spell on himself, it consumed so much of his magic that the spell on you was undone," Vesta suggested.

"But the important question is how do we change him back and why did he do this to himself in the first place?" asked Silver.

"Uncle, petrification is a metal spell. Would you be able to reverse its effects?" Vesta asked Silver.

"You put too much faith in me, Vesta. I know the spell, yes, but I was unable to master it to the point of unpetrifying a living being! It might not work."

"But it is our only option. Please, uncle, you have to try. Otherwise this will have all been for nothing," his niece pleaded.

Silver sighed, "I will do what I can." The others stepped back to give Silver some space as the alicorn prince walked up to the metal body of his brother. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as his horn began glowing brightly. Everyone raised their hooves to shield their eyes as the light became blinding. A beam of light shot out from the tip of Silver's horn and struck the metal Gold. From the point of impact, the metal began cracking and the cracks spread all across Gold's body until chunks of metal were blown away. They all watched in awe as the golden alicorn slowly hovered to the ground. When he landed however, Gold suddenly became unbalanced as his legs gave out from beneath him. "Brother!" Silver shouted, rushing forward and catching Gold's body with his.

Gold groaned and coughed as he tiredly opened his eyes, all while leaning on Silver. "Ugh, what's happening? Wh-where… Silver?" Gold gasped in shock, seeing his younger brother next to him.

"It's all right, brother, I'm here," Silver smiled. "Before you say anything, I want you to know how sorry I am. I should have let you explain instead of attacking you the way I did."

Before Silver could finish uttering that last syllable, Gold suddenly and tightly embraced the younger alicorn, catching him off guard and leaving him speechless. "I hated myself everyday for what I did to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Silver stood there, shocked and speechless as his brother begged for forgiveness. "I should be the one begging your forgiveness!" Gold pulled away and the two alicorns smiled at each other, silently forgiving each other for the past before tightly embracing each other.

When the pulled apart, Vesta stepped forward, her eyes tearing up. "Father!" she cried, running forward. Gold turned forward just as Vesta reached him and embraced him tightly. He smiled as Vesta tightly embraced him and cried into his shoulder.

He sighed and smiled, wrapped one leg around Vesta's shoulders and consoling here. "There, there, my daughter. Everything will be all right now. Where are your sisters?"

Vesta pulled away and wiped the happy tears from her eyes. "They are back at the palace. I asked them to remain behind."

"Good," he said, "a wise decision."

"They'll be so happy to see you again, father!" Vesta smiled.

"I'm afraid I'm not going back, not yet," he said.

"What? Why not?" she asked.

"If you've come to the Shadowlands against my explicit orders, then I imagine you found my secret journal?" he asked.

"Yes, you sought to cure Shadow Ponies. Is such a thing even possible?" she asked.

"I believe so, and I came here to test my theory, but my power alone was insufficient in formulating a cure. But now, you have brought me exactly what I need."

"What are you talking?" Silver asked.

"As you both know, light magic can completely eradicate Shadow Ponies, disintegrating them into nothingness. I believed that the darkness was but a disease, infecting hosts and turning them into the mindless creature of shadow we see now. After much testing and experimentation, I found my solution. What we require is a massive quantity of light magic, but focused through healing magic so that we do not destroy the host, only the infection plaguing them. With the three of us, our light magic should suffice and with Streak, we have our healer."

"M-me?" Streak cried.

"Yes, you, Streak. The three of us may be skilled in healing magic, but certainly not to your degree. If we focus our light magic through your healing magic, I believe we can purge the shadows entirely and leave the infected hosts intact and unharmed." Just then, Gold suddenly groaned in pain and fell forward onto one knee as everyone rushed to his side in worry.

"Father, what's wrong?" Vesta cried.

"Look!" Sunset pointed with her hoof, to a faint wisp of shadows seeping through Gold's chest armor. Silver quickly removed it as they all backed up in horror. On Gold's beautiful coat was a black swirling mark, slowly but surely growing and spreading across his skin.

"What happened to you?" Silver asked.

Gold chuckled, "Heh, I was outnumbered and outmatched. I wouldn't use my light magic to kill them and they overwhelmed me."

"But you have light magic! How were the shadows able to infect you?" Prometheus cried.

"It is true that light magic can destroy the darkness, but the same can be said in reverse," Gold explained, putting his chestplate back on. "Given time, even the brightest light can be snuffed out by the dark. I do not have much time before the infection takes me."

"That's why you petrified yourself!" Silver realized.

Gold nodded, "Yes. I knew I wouldn't make it back in time and enact my cure before the darkness took over me, so I sealed myself in the form of a statue to temporarily halt the infection progress. But before doing so, I undid the spell that sealed you, Silver."

"But, how could you possibly know that I would come here too? How do you know that I still wouldn't be angry and just repeat history?" Silver asked.

"I had faith, brother," Gold replied, gently placing a hoof on Silver's shoulder. Just then, he fell to his knee again and groaned in pain. "We must hurry. I don't know how much longer I can fight this off."

"What do you need of us?" Vesta asked.

"The three of us will focus all of our magic through Streak and direct it towards the entirety of the Shadowlands. Only with the power of three with light magic will we succeed. Without Streak, our magic would simply eradicate it, but focusing it through a healing conduit such as he will give our light magic a healing property. We can do it here, right now, but once we start, they will know what we are doing and they will come to stop us." Gold then turned to Twilight and Sunset. Just as he was about to speak he doubled back upon looking at Sunset. He quickly glanced back and forth between her and Vesta, much to everyone's confusion, before smiling at her. "I'm afraid I do not know you two," he said.

"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is Sunset Shimmer," Twilight introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you princess and Sunset. I know not why you are here, but I can only deduce it is to help." The two ponies nodded. "Excellent. While the four of us prepare my spell, I need you two to make sure we are not interrupted. This spell will require all of our magic, so we cannot erect a light barrier. Do you know of any protection spells?"

"Oh, yes I do! I learned all about protection spells while I was Princess Celestia's student! It won't keep them away forever, but it should buy you the time you need," Twilight answered.

"Good, I leave that to you two then," Gold said, before turning back to his brother and daughter.

"Come on, Sunset. I need you to help me with this," Twilight said. Once they were done, their small base camp was covered under a light purple, domed barrier. With Streak in the center, the three alicorns gathered around him and began glowing in a bright, warm light. The alicorns began floating into the air as they were each enveloped by a beam of golden light.

"They're coming!" Prometheus cried, seeing hordes of Shadow Ponies pour out of the Shadowlands towards them, shrouding the sky in darkness. They immediately began beating on Twilight's barrier, which managed to hold them off… for now. As the three alicorns began pouring their light magic into Streak, the pillar of light over Gold suddenly flickered and he weakly fell to the ground.

"King Gold!" Sunset cried, witnessing this as she ran over to the fallen king.

"Apolla!" Prometheus cried instinctively. He was about to go after her until a Shadow Pony managed to break through the barrier. Prometheus quickly noticed this and headbutted the pony out while Twilight sealed the crack with her magic.

Vesta briefly snapped out of her concentration when she heard this and watched Sunset run over to Gold. "...Apolla?"

"King Gold, are you all right?" Sunset asked, helping the weary alicorn up.

"It is as I feared. I am losing my power; the darkness is taking hold of me."

"There must be something we can do!" she exclaimed.

"Aye, there is something… something you can do," he said, turning to her.

"Me? What do you mean?"

"I know a Wu Xing royal when I see one. You are the spitting image of your mother and there is light inside of you. I need you to take my place; all of Wu Xing needs you!"

"But I-" Sunset nearly stepped back, out of fear and uncertainty, but she looked at the encroaching Shadow Ponies and the two royals above them bathing in light. Sunset couldn't explain it, but something inside her was screaming, pushing her to step up and help. She almost instinctively wanted to let Twilight do it instead, but Sunset knew something that she didn't: it would only work with her. After helping Gold sit down comfortably, Sunset hesitantly stepped into the circle of light, which light up brilliantly in response. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as she was carefully lifted into the air and showered in a pillar of light. She felt a warmth growing inside her, rushing to her horn. She bent forward and pointed her horn at Streak. She poured every last bit of magic she had into him, as did Vesta and Silver. When they stopped, Streak rose above them with white glowing eyes. A radiant blue beam of light shot out from his horns and straight into the Shadowlands. For a moment, it seemed like nothing happened until a bright dome of blue light began expanding from the Shadowlands. Twilight, Prometheus and Gold quickly shielded their eyes as the dome enveloped them, spreading all across Wu Xing.

When the light faded, Twilight and Prometheus slowly opened their eyes. The vast wall of wispy shadows was gone and the horde of Shadow Ponies in front of them was replaced with normal looking ponies, mostly fillies and colts, each as confused as they were scared. The two flame guard pegasi quickly went to work on gathering all the young ponies together. Vesta, Silver and Streak were lowered to the ground, while Sunset remained floating above them in a pillar of light.

"Sunset!" Twilight cried in worry. Everyone slowly stepped back as Sunset was magically lowered to the ground. The pillar of light began getting brighter and brighter, forcing them to shield their eyes until the light finally faded. Before them stood Sunset with a pair of beautiful wings. "Sunset…"

"What? What is it?" Sunset asked, confused as to why everyone was looking at her.

"Look!" Twilight pointed with her hoof. Sunset turned and gasped at the sight of her wings. She began turning and moving them to make sure she was really seeing what she was seeing.

"I-I'm an alicorn," she whispered. "But how?"

"Because in a time of need, you stepped beyond your station and answered the call of duty. You proved yourself a true princess, a Princess of Light," Gold explained.

Prometheus quickly ran up to Sunset. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, dad, I'm fine. I feel… I feel great," Sunset smiled, but her smile quickly disappeared as Vesta approached her.

"You're…" she whispered, unable to finish her sentence.

"Vesta," Prometheus spoke up. "It's her." Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof as she watched the scene before her.

Vesta didn't look at Prometheus and simply kept her eyes on Sunset, which only made the new alicorn more uncomfortable. Vesta extended her hoof and used it to move around Sunset's wild hair before lifting her face by her chin. They stood like that for a few seconds before Vesta smiled at her with teary eyes. "It's really you," she whispered, her voice nearly breaking as she did, "After all this time, you're really here." The two female alicorns smiled at each other before embracing tightly. A mother reunited with daughter she had long thought to be dead and a young pony finally feeling right where she belonged.

"Wait, look!" Gold shouted, pointing to the sky. The alicorns pulled away and looked up to see a swirling mass of shadows forming in the sky.

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 **Yeah, another cliffhanger, booooo, amirite? But, I'm pretty much ready to wrap this story up and one thing I could not resist doing was making Sunset a princess. Because why not? I think she deserves it and the Daydream Shimmer bit from Friendship Games feels like the human world equivalent of it in my opinion lol.**

 **Ok I'm tired now. Sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz**


	12. Heart of Gold

"Everyone get behind us!" Silver shouted, leading the civilian ponies behind them for protection as the massive shadow hovered in front of them.

"Wh-what is that?" Twilight exclaimed.

"It is as I feared," Gold explained. "The Darkness is not just a plague, it is a living and breathing entity. We have succeeded in purging it from those it infected, but we did not destroy it completely, only forced it out."

"Then how do we destroy it?" Vesta asked.

"How else? With light magic!" Silver declared, firing a beam of light magic from his horn straight into the black shadowy mass. As the beam of light struck the shadow, it cried out and reeled in pain, it's shrill cries echoing across the sky. All of a sudden, Gold, Sunset and the other rescued ponies collapsed to the ground.

"Sunset!" Twilight exclaimed, rushing to her fallen friend's side.

"Apolla!" Prometheus followed suite.

"Father, what's happening?" Vesta cried in worry as she rushed to her father's side. Silver ceased his attack on the Darkness and joined them.

"I… I'm not sure," he groaned in pain as Vesta helped him stand up. "But, I feel a pain in my chest."

"M-me too," Sunset moaned.

"I don't understand. The instant I struck the Darkness with my light magic, you and Sunset collapsed. It cannot be a coincidence that all these ponies collapsed as well!" Silver exclaimed.

"It's not," Gold said, standing up straight and pulling away from Vesta's support. "It is as I feared."

"What is it, King Gold?" Twilight asked.

"Even though we succeeded in purging the Darkness from those infected, each pony that has been touched by the Darkness is still connected to it."

"Connected?" Vesta asked in confusion.

"When we are infected by the Darkness, it seeps its way into our hearts, corrupting us from within, preying on our innermost thoughts, desires and fears to turn us into its thralls. Even when the Darkness is purged from our hearts, we still remain connected to it. Our life forces are tethered together. Destroy it and every single pony who's heart has been touched by the Darkness… will die as well," he said gravely. Upon hearing his words, Vesta quickly snapped her head towards her daughter. She felt her chest ache in the same manner as her father had described, though the cause of her pain was entirely different. Wu Xing's war against the Shadowlands had raged on for centuries, since before even Gold was born! Now, they had the chance to wipe the Darkness off the face of the planet at last! But… if they did, that would mean every pony ever infected by the Darkness would perish as well. As a ruler, Vesta always knew that she would have to make the difficult decisions that no one else could, that she would always have to put her kingdom before everything else, even what she wanted. But now, at this very moment, Vesta couldn't even fathom the idea of going through with this. Her eyes fixated on that of her daughter, whom she had only moments ago reunited with after so many years. No matter how high she held herself, no matter how much she knew that she had to decide what was best for all of Wu Xing, she just couldn't sacrifice the one thing in this world that meant everything to her.

"There has to be another way!" she cried desperately, looking to her father for the answer.

"There is," he answered, to her relief.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The Darkness is an ancient entity, one that has likely existed since the beginning of time. But even it has its limits. That is why it infects other ponies; it uses them as its host in order to spread its power and influence."

"But why infect so many?" Silver asked.

"Because a single host cannot survive the full force of the Darkness. So, it spreads itself across a vast number of hosts so that not a single one is overwhelmed by its power. If we cannot destroy it, then our only option is to seal it within a host, permanently."

"But you said a single host can't survive it!" Vesta pointed out.

"I did, but an alicorn… an alicorn will be strong enough to contain the Darkness. But it will not be without consequence."

"What do you mean?" asked Prometheus.

"All of that Darkness inside you, an alicorn's body will survive, but their heart and mind will fall to the Darkness. They will be only a shadow of what they once were."

"I will do it," Silver said, stepping forward.

"What?" they all exclaimed.

"Silver, you can't!" Vesta protested.

"I must. I know you said that you had forgiven me, but the truth is, I haven't forgiven myself for what I did then and what I tried to do guilt still eats away at me. At least this way, I can atone for all the harm I caused," Silver said, turning to face the shadowy mass. "Come!" he shouted, "You wish for a host? Then I offer you one!" The others only watched with wide eyes and dropped jaws as the shadow swirled down towards Silver, who had closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate. However, he quickly opened his eyes when - even with his eyes closed - he saw a flash of light as his brother appeared in front of him, standing between Silver and the incoming shadows. "No!" Silver cried.

But it was too late. The shadows struck Gold right in the chest and began to seep into his body. The clashing of these two powerful beings generated a force so strong that it pushed Silver back several feet back towards Vesta.

"Father, what are you doing?" Vesta cried.

"Brother, no! It should be me!" Silver protested.

"No, it has to be me," Gold said, twitching as he struggled to turn and face them while black veins began spreading across his golden body. "No father would ever allow his daughter to take such a burden, and no big brother would allow his little brother to either."

"But-"

"I know you feel that you must take this penance, but moving forward begins when you learn to forgive yourself. Do not mourn me. I have lived a long a fulfilling life; I fell in love and had four wonderful daughters and I won't let you miss out on that chance."

"Father, there has to be another way! You said so yourself that this will corrupt you beyond anything!" Vesta cried.

"Then I will halt it's progress the same way I did before; trap the Darkness in an eternal prison, a host that is unliving and undying." The veins continued spreading across his body and became more prominent against his golden coat with each passing second as Gold struggled to speak. "Brother, forgive yourself and allow yourself to enjoy happiness. Vesta, my daughter, tell your sisters that I love you all so much and that I'm so proud." Gold then turned his attention to Sunset. "With the setting sun comes the promise of a new dawn. You have a bright future, Princess," Gold groaned wearily as his golden coat slowly started turning dark grey from his hooves. "I am out of time. Place me in Tartarus; it is the only place to ensure that the Darkness never gets out again." There were no more words left for the golden King to say. His brother and daughter opened their mouths to protest once more, simply unwilling to accept that this was what had to happen and that there was no other possible solution, one where they could all walk away happily. Before either Silver or Vesta could utter a word, Gold closed his eyes as his body began emanating an intense glow so bright that it forced everypony to close their eyes and shield themselves from its intensity. When it finally faded, in Gold was once again a golden statue. He stood high on his hind legs, front hooves raised and wings opened wide. He looked so majestic and regal that one would not guess from first glance that inside, he was housing a great evil.

The return to the capital was quiet and extremely awkward. Twilight and Sunset kept exchanging looks with each other, unsure of what to say or if they should even break the silence that fell over the royals like gloomy clouds. When they made it back, Twilight's friends all gathered around her, marveling at Sunset's new wings. Each one congratulated her on becoming a princess, but their happy words just slipped in one ear and out the other. Instead, Sunset's green eyes were locked on Princess Vesta - her mother - who made her way towards her three eager and waiting sisters. Each of them gave their own wide-eyed looks, yearning for answers. Vesta merely gestured to the statue and hung her head sadly. Her three younger sisters stared up at the statue as they strolled over to it. Vesta recounted what happened to them and emphasized one thing when she finished, "Father sacrificed himself so that we, all of us," she said, looking at Silver as well, "could have a brighter tomorrow. He said to tell you three how much he loves you." The sisters said nothing; they didn't ask if anything could be done to save Gold from his fate or if every alternative had been considered. Instead, each of them stepped forward and embraced Vesta tightly.

Sunset stepped away from her friends to approach Vesta, but Prometheus intervened. He stood between his daughter and her mother with a stern look on his face. "Not right now," he said, solemnly shaking his head.

Sunset wasn't offended or hurt. Instead, she understood and smiled with a firm nod. She and Vesta… the inevitable conversation they were bound to have could wait a little while longer while Vesta sorted out the aftermath of all of this: sending Gold's metal form to Tartarus and figuring out what to do with the survivors rescued from the Shadowlands. Many of them were still fillies and colts, who had been taken and infected long ago, unaged during all this time and thankfully, unable to remember any of their time in the shadows. Twilight and her friends helped however they could with reuniting lost children to their families.

Later in the week, Sunset wandered through the castle by herself. She still hadn't had the chance to speak with Vesta and while she was understanding about it at first, every second they were delayed only made Sunset more nervous. What should she say? What was Vesta going to say? In her rambled thoughts, she eventually found herself outside Princess Apolla's, or rather her old room. Hesitantly raising her hoof, Sunset pushed the door open and stepped into the nursery. Looking around at all the decor, she couldn't help but feel that sense of familiarity returning. Sunset suddenly noticed Vesta at the far end of the room staring at her.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Sunset began stammering as she started walking out of the room backwards.

"I haven't stepped in this room since the day she was taken from me. The memories… the pain, they were too much to bear. And no matter how hard I searched, I could not find her. Prometheus wanted to keep going, but I did not. Years of searching had yielded nothing. Hope kept him going, but for me, that same hope brought only more sadness and heartache. I accepted a long time ago that my Apolla was gone," Vesta spoke, marching over to Sunset as she did. "And now, by some miracle, you found your own way home."

"I… This is all still so new to me. I get… flashes of things. This place is familiar, but, I don't remember it all too well," Sunset admitted.

"I wouldn't expect you to. You were only a babe when you were taken from here."

"All my life, I always felt like there was this hole inside me, some void that I was desperate to fill. But now…" Sunset's words trailed off as she looked up to Vesta. "I don't even know what to say or where to start."

"Then perhaps now is not the time for words. We may sit in silence, until the moment feels right," Vesta replied.

Sunset looked around the room once more, exploring it deeper than the first time she had found it. It felt familiar and foreign to her all at the same time! As if retracing her steps exactly, Sunset looked down at her hoof when she felt herself step on something. It was the same bunny plush she came across before. She sat down in front of it and lifted it up with her magic before taking it in her two front hooves and hugging it tightly. As she inhaled, she immediately recognized the scent; it smelled like roses and the mere scent flooded her mind with memories. Each one of them in this room, Prometheus and Vesta both there, smiling… happy. Sunset dropped the bunny and turned to face Vesta, who, for the first time in years, looked hopeful. "I… I remember."

"What do you remember?" Vesta asked.

"You and Prometheus… played with me in this room and it always smelled of roses," Sunset slowly recounted as she locked eyes with Vesta. No more words were said that night as the two alicorns embraced each other tightly, tears of joy running down their cheeks.

"Are you sure it's not too much?" Sunset asked, examining the beautiful light blue gown she was adorned in.

"Trust me, darling! It looks stunning on you. The right level of elegance and extravagance to match your new regal bearing without crossing the line into overly-flamboyant territory!" Rarity declared proudly.

"Uh…"

"She means you look beautiful, Sunset," Twilight said.

"That's what I said," Rarity scoffed.

"We better get a move on. The procession's about to start," Applejack said as they heard the sound of trumpets."

"I'll see you guys in a bit!" Sunset called as her friends stepped out of their room, leaving Sunset alone to examine her appearance in the mirror. Wings… she finally had wings. Being an alicorn princess was all she had ever wanted. The frilly dress may not have been her thing, but right now, the fact that she was an alicorn wasn't the most prominent thing on her mind. She finally felt whole, like a missing part of her had been found. She smiled to herself, finally feeling at peace and complete.

She turned when she heard a knock on the door as Prometheus stepped inside. "Are you ready, Princess?" he asked.

She took one last look at herself, smiling at how happy she was at this moment before walking up to Prometheus' side. "I'm ready, dad." The pegasus captain led Sunset down the stairs and into the great hall, past a procession of guards with trumpets and several ponies who had all come to witness the event. Towards the end of the hall on the left stood her friends, each of them smiling and waving at her happily and excitedly, while on the right stood Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Celestia's beautiful multi-colored mane flowed gently like a waterfall as she gave Sunset a nod and proud smile. Sunset stepped up to the raised platform that the four Elemental Princesses stood on and stood opposite to her mother.

Vesta smiled at Sunset before turning to address her subjects. "Today, we honor the sacrifice of our noble and beloved King Gold. Because of him, Wu Xing is now free from the threat of the Shadowlands forever." At her words, the ponies gathered in the hall began cheering. "Which is why I declare that on this day, every year, we will honor and celebrate my father, our king, for his noble act in the Festival of Gold!" The ponies cheered once more before Vesta held up her hoof to quiet them. "But there is one more thing I need to say before we begin the celebration. Many years ago, I lost someone very dear to me to the shadows. I thought her to be gone, lost to me forever. But now, our princess has found her way home. I present to you all, Princess Sunset Shimmer!" Vesta stood aside and motioned for Sunset to step forward. The little alicorn nervously did so as the ponies in the audience cheered loudly. Vesta stepped forward, holding a beautiful golden crown with a blazing sun emblem identical to her cutie mark with her magic. "This was always meant to be yours," Vesta smiled.

"Thank you," Sunset smiled back as Vesta placed the crown on her head and the ponies erupted in cheer once more.

"There's the princess of the hour!" Applejack exclaimed as Sunset walked out onto the balcony where her friends were gathered.

"So, how's it feel?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You mean finding out that I'm actually the long lost Princess of another kingdom AND turning into an alicorn? It's gonna take some getting used to, but… it feels right," she replied.

"We're all very happy for you, Sunset," Twilight smiled, "and you'll get used to the wings, eventually."

"So, I guess you'll be staying here now, won't you?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"For the first time in my life, I finally feel like I belong, like really belong, like this huge emptiness inside me is finally filled. And I never would have found where I belong without all of you, especially you Twilight." The two young princesses embraced tightly.

"Promise you'll write!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I will," Sunset smiled back.

* * *

 **I'd say that about wraps things up. I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as I did writing it! I might do some oneshots about the other Wu Xing royals and their love interests, but right now, there's no word on when I'll actually be doing those.**


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